College Dining: Can Students Really Eat Healthy on a Meal Plan?

An inside look on the dining habits of college students, and whether or not higher education makes it possible to make healthy eating choices.

An example of a college dining location.

In 2015, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 69.2 percent of high school graduates were enrolling in colleges or universities right out of graduation. Some of these students may come to campuses hungry for knowledge, but they'll all be hungry for food.

As trends of healthy eating and fueling your body well continue to rise in popularity, many students hope to make good eating choices at school. This can be difficult if the plant-based foods that colleges offer aren't fresh, and there's an abundance of fried foods in their place.

USA Today reported that many college students aren't even getting one serving of fruit a day. A study by Oregon State University explained that adults are recommended 5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables - so it's clear that a majority of college students aren't getting the nutrients they need.

Brad Cardinal, a professor of exercise and sport science at Oregon State University explained that this may be because lots of students were found to skip meals frequently. The study also found that more than 30 percent of the calories students ate were in fats, which is higher than the American Dietetics Association's recommendations.

A Balancing Act

Students may feel that they have no other choice than to resort to eating on campus. If they don't have a car, grocery shopping may be impossible and some colleges require on-campus students to have meal plans, leaving less money for buying alternate food.

Clarke University released a healthy eating guide to attempt to assist busy students in their efforts to eat healthy. They explained that in the rush of attending classes and balancing homework, it can be easier to make bad dining decisions. The university recommended always keeping healthy snacks in your bag, limiting sugar intake, and drinking lots of water.

Colleges may be struggling to provide healthy foods, too. USA Today explained that offering a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables can be much more expensive than offering processed foods to students. The financial burden to provide food to such a large group of people could be too high for some universities to handle.

In Cardinal's opinion, the reason students don't eat well is that they weren't equipped with the education or skills to eat healthy.

"We are not teaching youth how to be self-sustaining," Cardinal said. "Home economics and nutrition classes have all but disappeared from our schools in the K-12 system. There is a fundamental lack of understanding on how to eat well in a very broad sense."

Pioneering Universities

In recent years, more and more higher education organizations are working to make dining healthier for students. In 2011, City University of New York (CUNY) rolled out a new program that polled students on their eating habits, then released personalized strategies for the school and students to eat better.

Programs like these may be intimidating for schools because of financial risks, USA Today reported, but there are simple changes colleges can make to provide a healthier environment for students. Cafeterias can make more tap water available to students and reduce the amount of processed snacks offered. In this way, more funding and space is available for fresh foods.

Nick Freudenberg, the co-director go CUNY's healthy initiative said that as students demand healthier food, colleges and universities will begin to change the dining options offered.

“In the long run, university food services can promote health and make money. Our surveys of students show that most students want healthier, tastier and more affordable food to be sold on campus,” said Freudenberg.

Long-Term Effects

The Journal of Nutrition and Human Health published a study in 2018 that explained the larger effects of continual poor eating decisions.

Their study showed that students aren't clueless to their dining choices - they know that processed food and soda are unhealthy and contain additives. The issue comes when students suddenly gain the freedom of college and have the independence and responsibility to make their own dining decisions.

Additionally, convenience of food and flavor play major roles in students deciding what to eat. With major changes of independence and new financial burdens, students may feel they have no other choice than to eat the easiest meals to grab - which are usually unhealthy ones.

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As social movements to eat healthier grow through mediums like social media, it is very possible that the perspectives of students will shift, too. In the future, the desire to eat healthfully may overcome the barriers of convenience and cost.

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