While I was living in the dorms for first 2 years of college life, I always thought the food was NASTY & HORRIBLE! So many other students thought this but we still ate dorm food anyways because all of our money was in the stupid dorm food card. How was your experience like on dorm food? I also know few who got food-poisoning from eating them. LOL What a great way to start college life, eh? If the Universities are going to charge us so much, at least give the students great food.

Where did you go to school? I went to U of Illinois in Urbana and the dorm food wasn't too shabby. Some things you had to stay away from but they tried really hard to give some good food. Some dorms even had specialty restaurants one night each week where they would transform the cafeteria into an Italian/Mexican/Soul Food/etc (depending on the dorm) restaurant-like atmosphere. One school I know of - U of Arizona doesn't have any cafeterias ... They just have fast food places and you can charge it to your student account. That's nice I guess, but I'd just get fat!

I attended Morehead State University in Kentucky. The problem I had with the on campus food was the pricing. It was much more expensive to eat on campus than it in the local restaurants.

That's crazy! How was the quality of the food? If I could get better quality food for a cheaper price, what's the motivation to buy campus food other than maybe convenience?

The way they "motivated" people was that they required on campus students to purchase a meal card. The supposed reason was that it was best for the students because many of them wasted their money and then had difficulty in eating. Actually the requirement was for those living in dorms. I lived in married housing and wasnt obligated to this. That was over ten years ago, I dont know if they still have that requirement today or not.

I was offered the chance of being in dorms or renting a house with other stydents when I went to University.

I often envied those in dorms, until I heard about the food! At my university it was very restrictive in terms of having two settings for an evening meal, at set times and with fixed menus. I was glad that I had the flexibility to cook and eat what I wanted.