“Be careful what you eat when you’re away at college, you’ll gain the ‘freshman 15’ if you’re careless,” a relative said to me 3 years ago when I was about to start my new life at San Diego State University.

Coming into my freshman year, I knew I was going to be on the Flex 7 meal plan. During the 2023-2024 school year, Flex 7 gave me $29.40 per day, Monday through Friday, and $17.50 on the weekends. While reviewing the food options on campus, I was looking forward to using my meal plan at restaurants and cafes like Starbucks and Rubio’s. 

That excitement died quickly. Within my first month, I found that it was hard to feed myself three nutritious meals per day with only $29.40. I often spent out-of-pocket money at Trader Joe’s and Ralph’s to have enough snacks and frozen meals for the week. 

However, since I wasn’t making a lot of money from my on-campus job and didn’t want to ask my parents for help, I didn’t eat much during my first year. By the end of the first semester, I realized I lost some weight. 

My parents and grandma were worried each time I came home and looked thinner. They always asked me if I was okay and that if I needed money for food they would help me out. But, with my meal plan costing $816 per month, it was hard to tell my parents that what they were paying for wasn’t enough to feed me. 

I’m sure if I had the $816 in my pocket, it would be more than what I need to feed myself. SDSU’s meal plan distribution sucks– I was paying $816 a month and still couldn’t eat properly. That’s insane. 

Instead, I lied to my parents and said I was going to the gym and maybe that’s why I lost weight, which they knew was a lie because I don’t have an active bone in my body.

And I wasn’t the only one, I remember others in my dorm expressing how Flex 5 and Flex 7 meal plans made it challenging instead of easier to eat enough throughout the day. 

Sometimes, I would feel so sick of eating the same thing everyday that I would let my meal plan money go to waste for the day and just order food on Postmates. I never ate at Eureka, Broken Yolk Cafe or The Garden because one meal there would use up pretty much all my funds for the day. 

Now, freshman meal plans are sort of better– though not really. This school year’s Flex 5 meal plan gives students $33.86 per day Monday through Friday, and includes 10 meal swipes which can be used at either UTK or The Garden on campus. Flex 7 also offers 10 meal swipes for the year along with $28.39 per day Monday through Sunday. 

Though first-year students now get a little more money on their required meal plan, the options feel very limited. Why are there so many sandwich places? 

Also, it’s no secret that diet culture is pretty persistent on campus. The tendency to compare how you look is strong at SDSU.  

It’s honestly rare to find a victim of the “freshman 15” on campus. However, it seems that with myself and others I have met, the “freshman 15” came either in sophomore or junior year. Imagine all the real and good food you could buy for yourself with that money instead of handing it over to the university to eat a mediocre sandwich.