University of Minnesota meal plan prices have been consistently rising for at least the last six years, though the rate at which they increase is lower this year than in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

University meal plan prices in fiscal year 2024-25 increased by 7.5% from fiscal year 2023-24, according to data from the University. Though a steeper increase than any of those from 2019 to 2023, it is a lower increase than last year by three percentage points.

The University’s Contract Administration Department develops, negotiates, manages and administers campus dining vending projects, according to the department’s website.

Meal plan rates are mainly dependent upon food and supply costs, which have significantly increased since the pandemic due to inflation and supply chain issues, said Contract Administration Director Amy Keran in a statement to the Minnesota Daily.

“Labor costs have increased with higher wages for students and full-time employees and additional paid time off through Minnesota’s Earned Sick and Safe Time law,” Keran said in the statement. 

Keran said food supply chain issues vary.

“For example, eggs have increased in price due to the recovery from the bird flu and the increase in seasonal demand,” Keran said. 

Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Vice President Clara Jünemann said hearing about the increase in meal plan prices was incredibly frustrating. 

“Students are already struggling to meet their basic needs, and increasing the meal plan prices is not necessarily a solution to help with that,” Jünemann said. “If anything, it’ll only make those situations worse for those students.”

Jünemann said having such an increase is counterproductive to conversations with their attempts to help students and advocacy work. 

USG is continuing to advocate for an affordable grocery store for students, Jünemann said. 

“I think our efforts should be made to working to fix that, instead of continuing to increase and continue to add to the problem,” Jünemann said. “I understand there are certain reasons for increases, but at the same time, I think we need to make sure that our priorities are aligned with what students need.”

Second-year student Claudia Fezzey said she did not purchase a meal plan this year because of the rising prices. 

Fezzey said she learned of the rising meal plan prices when she was planning her living situation for the year and that it was disheartening to see so many of the prices rising. 

“I can’t like put the blame fully on the University because I think a lot of it comes down to funding,” Fezzey said. “I know there’s been some issues in the legislature, so I think people need to realize that we need to be voting for politicians that are going to be funding education in order to keep our prices down as much as we can.” 

All students living in University residence halls are required to have an unlimited meal plan.

“When I started kind of doing the math for it, and I realized it’s upwards of, like $30, $40 a day, if you do the math on it,” Fezzey said. “I just kind of realized that that’s not worth it if it’s something that’s not going to be mandatory.”

Fezzey said an affordable grocery store on campus would be a very big step towards food accessibility on campus. 

“I think the end goal should be to try to keep a freeze on that so that people who are required to and want to have that experience in the residence hall and are required to purchase it, should be able to get that at an affordable cost,” Fezzey said.