D-Hall options Editorial As any student who has been on a non D-hall meal plan knows, it’s difficult to convince yourself to eat there when you have to use flex bucks or real money. D-hall costs over 7$ for students without a meal plan. That cost is the same regardless of how much you intend to eat, a detail that can be very frustrating. 7$ may not seem like very much, but when you are operating on a fixed income like many college students are, it becomes rather expensive to eat at D-hall. When offered the choice of having an arguably lesser quality biscuit and eggs with bacon in D-hall for 7$ or a quick to-go version of the same thing in Valhalla for less than 3$ it’s pretty obvious which one students will chose. Yes D-hall has a variety of other foods, such as cereal and juice and the occasional breakfast sausage in the morning, but half of those feel like they have better versions for cheaper in Valhalla (which is saying something considering the price of “groceries” in Valhalla). For an all you can eat dinner buffet, 7$ doesn’t sound like too bad a price considering the quantity of food you can consume especially after a hard day of class and work. The primary issue I have with D-hall is rarely do I feel like I’m eating enough to warrant paying my way into D-hall unless that multiple plate dinner is the intended case. It feels like a waste almost when you just want a to-go box with some sandwiches or a salad and it costs the same as that all you can eat buffet. People don’t always have the time or hunger to “get their money’s worth” at D-hall and so avoid it. I have been there of my own accord maybe 5 times since D-hall meals were no longer in my meal plan, and 15 more because freshman friends eating there. I would be there every day for lunch instead of Valhalla if there was an option to get a smaller to-go box so I could have a cold cut sandwich with fresh veggies or the occasional hamburger and fires (and that one cookie you can’t resist) everyday between morning classes and work for half price of the all you can eat buffet. An argument that could be raised against this would be how to enforce it, but as someone who has tried to sneak into D-hall and found that the place already operates on an honor-system anyway it doesn’t seem difficult to apply that trust in Berry Students to this idea either. (Don’t ask why I snuck into D-hall when I was a freshman and had an unlimited meal plan it doesn’t make sense to me either) Students don’t want to pay for a huge meal every time they go into get a snack or a light lunch, there should be the option to pay for that smaller plate or to-go box.