Sometimes I’d have the meat - if it looked alright.”
-Jared Duke, a sophomore at University of Illinois, on his experiences in the dining halls.

Jared Duke was not about to put up with another year of Captain Crunch dinners.

Duke is a sophomore at the University of Illiniois. Last year, finding most of the dining hall food unappetizing, he was almost always stuck with a rather meager meal, such as pasta, or his default food of choice, cereal.

“Sometimes I’d have the meat - if it looked alright,” Duke said.

Students who cook on their own rather than pay for a meal plan usually break even or save a few dollars.

Duke lives off-campus this year, and no longer has to put up with the unwanted hassle of the dining hall. Thousands of college students each year, however, must make the decision to either pick a meal plan or go on their dietary journey alone. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages: some students prefer the convenience of having their food ready for the taking, while others would rather eat what they want, when they want, the way they want it.

“The meals in the dining hall were just not good,” Duke said.

Vicky Volvovski, a sophomore at University of Wisconsin-Madison, also doesn’t mind a little cooking and microwaving in order to get the food she really wants. She, like Duke, decided to forego a meal plan for her sophomore year, after eating on-campus throughout her freshman year.

“I’d rather cook my own food and have more of a variety than have to choose from the same monotonous things everyday,” Volvovski said.