By Christin Kennedy

news@kykernel.com

UK Dining Services will discontinue the Champion 85 meal plan option for the fall 2016 semester.

It is the most flexible meal plan, with more than $700 in flex to spend at any restaurant on campus. Students pay $1,600 for the Champion 85 plan.

The Champion 85 meal plan is a block plan, meaning students get the entire block of 85 meals at the beginning of the semester, according to UK Dining’s director of marketing Charity N. Bradley.

Bradley said the 85 meals a semester amounts to about five meals a week. The plan also comes with $725 flex dollars that can be used at 26 different restaurants across campus.

“I chose the Champion 85 meal plan because it provided me with the most flexibility,” psychology sophomore Natalie Malone said.

She is one of 1,219 students enrolled in the meal plan. Malone said she is a healthy eater so she often has a hard time finding healthy options on campus for a meal swipe.

The availability of meal plans are determined by the campus dining contract with Aramark. The Champion 85 meal plan was originally scheduled to be eliminated at the end of the 2014-15 school year, but Bradley said the plan was approved for another year at students’ request.

Malone said she was upset about the Champion 85 meal plan not returning after this school year.

“I currently have plans to move off campus and utilize grocery shopping for meals,” Malone said. “If the Champion 85 meal plan is not available I do not foresee myself purchasing a meal plan ever again.”

Bradley said UK Dining’s decision to remove the plan was not necessarily for financial reasons but was done in the hopes of fostering unity among students.

“I wouldn’t really know if there was a financial reason,” Bradley said. “I do know that the plan for the university is to work toward building more of a sense of community, and encouraging folks to sit down in Blazer and Fresh Food Company more so than eating in the retail restaurants where the large amounts of flex on the meal plan would be.”

The Champion 85 meal plan is the only meal plan that provides more than $700 in flex, which accommodates students who have trouble using meal swipes because of the time constraints.

“There is no other plan as unique as the Champion 85 meal plan,” Malone said. “Without such a high flex option, students like me would have to further come out of pocket to support our eating habits on campus.”

Comments on UK Dining or the possibility of the Champion 85 meal plan returning can be emailed to contactukdining@lsv.uky.edu.