Sal Orlando, Assistant News Editor
The cost of meal plans at VCU has continued to increase into the 2025-26 school year. Some students describe them as overpriced, and are asking for change from the university.
All dining plans VCU offers have gone up in price by an average of 14.69% since the 2023-24 school year, according to VCU’s most recent budget plan. Currently, there are 6,270 students with meal plans.
VCU Dining Services spokesperson Anna Obermiller said the price increase is due to inflation and a rising cost in food operation and equipment.
“Plan rates are adjusted annually in alignment with the Consumer Price Index, which reflects changes in food, labor, utilities, trash, composting, equipment and other operating costs that support campus dining services,” Obermiller said. “It’s these costs that determine increases in dining plan rates.”
The inflation rate in the United States went up 5.54% between August 2023 and December 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
First-year students living in underclassmen dorms are required to purchase a meal plan, the cheapest of them being $3,155.
Swipes can be used at any VCU dining location for transactions between $7.53 and $10.15. Dividing the cost of meal plans by the number of swipes they provide shows the average swipe costs around $15.
“Beyond the convenience of daily meal management, the policy aims to integrate students into the campus community and guarantee reliable access to healthy dining options,” Obermiller said.
Obermiller noted that exceptions are made for students “with exceptional dietary requirements beyond the daily cycle menu offerings,” and said a review of the requirements should be used when developing “an exceptional medical or ethnic nutritional program.”
School of Life Sciences and Sustainability assistant professor and Ram Pantry faculty advisor John Jones said that stable short and long-term access to food, the nutritional quality and cultural appropriateness of the food someone consumes, and if a person is able to obtain food legally (not stealing) make up most scholarly definitions of food security.
“Unless all of those conditions are present, the person in question is food insecure,” Jones said.
Jones mentioned that though dining plans can reduce food insecurity, it may take many years for students who take out loans to pay for meal plans to “pay for their food.”
Candace Collins, a second-year mass communications student, said she believes the prices of the dining plans need to be more realistic, and that they are currently overpriced.
First-year mechanical engineering student Peyton Burlison described the dining plans as “pretty pricey,” and said he is “definitely not doing it next semester because they add up to a lot.”
Burlison said he understands why meal plans are required for first-year students living on campus, but thinks that there should be smaller packages offered to first-year students.
Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, recently introduced legislation to the Virginia General Assembly that would allow students to donate their unused meal swipes to other students. It passed the Senate through a block vote and will be heard by the House of Delegates and considered by the governor before becoming law.
The VCU Ram Pantry is a free food resource for all VCU students. More information is available at advocacy.vcu.edu/resources/ram-pantry/ .