Finals week is an intensely stressful time for students at the University of Minnesota. Without a healthy start to the day with a solid breakfast, they can experience detrimental effects to their academic performance. Studies show that students lose focus and memory in test-taking scenarios when they skip breakfast.

The Minnesota Student Association is working to extend dining hall hours during finals so students have more opportunities to get breakfast before taking exams. Earlier this month, MSA passed a resolution urging University Dining Services to open all campus restaurants and dining halls as early as 6 a.m. Saturday during finals week.

Dining halls currently aren’t open early enough for students to get breakfast before 8 a.m. Saturday finals.  The Minnesota Daily reported that many students, especially freshmen, rely on dining halls for healthy meals and may have limited early-morning food options during finals week.

MSA Representative to the Board of Regents Joelle Stangler said told the Daily that MSA “has received positive feedback from UDS” regarding extended dining hall hours during finals week.

Students should be able to easily eat a full meal before taking exams during finals week. We support MSA’s effort to give students more opportunities to eat a healthy breakfast. UDS could also support additional to-go options to make the change easier for staff and for students’ unusual finals week schedules.

Whether it is extended hours, extra to-go options or a combination of both, it’s important that the University allows students the opportunity to have the best chance at success on test day — which means that available breakfast is a must.

At the time of this Editorial’s publication, UDS had already decided to extend its hours, according to MSA Ranking Representative to the Board of Regents Joelle Stangler.