PHOENIX — I walked into The Drop on the Arizona State University Downtown Phoenix campus looking to do my usual meal exchange for a vegan burger.
I was told they no longer accept meal exchange for that, only regular burgers and turkey sandwiches. So I’d have to pay $15 if I wanted my normal meal.
The two Aramark workers proceeded to have a conversation about the school constantly taking away good meal exchange items so that students have to use Maroon and Gold Dollars instead.
Leticia, who works at The Drop said, “It sucks cause students will come in here saying they don’t want food from [dining hall], because it’s too bland or they don’t have anything for me.”
Aramark is a foodservice and facility management service that started its contract with ASU in 2007 and runs the dining hall, student markets, vending machines and multiple fast-food companies on the main Tempe campus and the other three campuses. Last year, the university and Aramark reached an agreement to extend their partnership into the university’s sports venues. Aramark is now serving concessions at Mountain America Stadium during football season. And this got me thinking, is college food a scam?
ASU transfer student Kiara Pontarelli said, “I used to have meal swipes my first year, but I barely used them, and it was only for breakfast or I would use it as meal exchanges. I would rarely go to the dining hall; I just used M&G.”
“Then, my second year, I only bought M&G because I was like, what’s the point of meal swipes with that kind of dining hall?” she said.
Freshman Victoria Wint said, “The food Downtown is either a hit or a miss. Sometimes I’d rather just go to bed hungry.”
The Downtown Phoenix campus only has a small POD Market, a Chick-Fil-A, Panda Express, Starbucks and a small dining hall attached to the first-year dorms. All of these are owned and operated by Aramark.
If students want healthy options, they have to walk five minutes to Flip Kitchen at Fusion on First.
Health major Soraya White said, “I wish we had more vegetarian options or more options for M&G because there aren’t healthy places.”
Pontarelli said, “I don’t know if the dining hall sucks because we’re a secondary campus but we have all the nutrition majors down here and they’re not prioritizing the health of the students when you’re the health campus.”
First-year ASU students who live on campus are required to pay for a meal plan which costs anywhere from $1,400 to $3,500 a semester. If a student pays $2,890 dollars a semester for a meal plan that's $180 a week or $18 per meal swipe.
ASU student housing doesn’t allow toasters, hot plates, air fryers, crock pots, or any open heating items due to fire safety. This forces most students to eat the food Aramark serves on campus.
The Downtown Phoenix first-year dorms have only one small community kitchen for the entire building, giving students fewer options to cook their own food.
Despite the high fee students pay per semester for their meal plan, they are still being overcharged at the ASU POD Market.
ASU takes advantage of the fact that the closest grocery store is a Fry’s Food Store, which is a 20-minute round-trip walk and the closest gas station is known for being unsafe for anyone to buy from by making their student market prices so high.
According to the ASU Crime Log there have been 15 reported crimes in front of the Circle K on N 1st Ave from Aug. to Sept. including drug possession, harassment and indecency.
Compared to the Tempe campus, Downtown has a short supply of food options for students and they don’t all fit well with a college student's wallet.
Freshman nursing major Akeelah Brown added, “It feels like I’m eating the same thing over and over again, like meal prep. I want more M&G options. I don’t want to eat greasy food.”
Even if students have leftover M&G at the end of the semester, Aramark doesn't give that money back to the student; they are forced to use it all before the end of the semester or just let the money go to waste.
Pontarelli said, “Why am I using my M&G for Chick-fil-A, Panda Express and Starbucks rather than the dining hall? It’s possible to have good food Downtown. I wish it was more flavorful and had more options.”
Money is also wasted with the meal exchange program when students use all of their M&G but none of their meal exchange, which is a minimum of $10 per meal.
Wint said, “My first week of school I didn’t even eat at the dining hall because I didn’t want to touch it. Now I’m out of M&G.”
Downtown dining hall worker Barbara said that students are paying too much for bad food.
“My recommendation is that everyone goes to management and tell them we need more good food,” Barbara said.
Aramark serves chicken, fries, burgers and pizza every day and they rotate their Delicious Destinations station every day with food from different cultures and cuisines.
This doesn’t stop Aramark from serving students undercooked and unseasoned food according to Brown.
“Every time I go to the dining hall there are not a lot of options,” Brown said. “Just pizza, chicken and raw vegetables. I even have to put my own seasoning on my food cause it’s so bland.”
The dining hall also switches main meals every four hours, but items like the salad bar and deli can go uncovered for up to 10 hours.
The United States Department of Agriculture states that cold food left out should be replaced often and any food left out for more than two hours at room temperature should be discarded.
The Downtown Phoenix dining hall recently put up a banner stating that it was ranked fifth for best college food in Arizona by Niche Best Colleges.
Turns out they are No. 5 out of 13 in Arizona for campus food, with a B+ rating from Niche Best Colleges. The Tempe Campus ranked No. 3 for best college food in Arizona with an A-.
ASU’s West Valley campus was ranked No.6 and the Polytechnic campus was ranked No. 9.
The Downtown Phoenix Campus ranks No. 318 out of 1,416 on Niches Best College Food in America list.
A campus meal plan averages $570 a month, while meals cooked at home average $276 a month when the cost of eating off-campus is included.
“If you want the good options back you guys need to make a complaint with the corporation because it’s your money,” Leticia said.
Aramark has QR codes posted across campus prompting students to share their thoughts on the food and the options presented to them. However, there is no evidence that anyone uses the QR codes or that Aramark reads the suggestions.
Aramark isn’t the only company taking advantage of students’ money. ASU’s old dining vendor, Sodexo, has similar complaints from students about the lack of variety and taste.
A change in dining providers doesn’t mean the food automatically gets better; it’s about the provider adjusting to students' wants and needs.
“I started off at Loyola University Chicago and their dining hall was amazing,” Pontarelli said. “At Loyola they did Wing Wednesdays where you could have buffalo, barbecue, or garlic parm and everyone would go to the dining hall to eat. It was like a big community event.”
Wint said she would like to see Aramark open a seasoning bar in the dining hall.
Aramark was reached out to but declined to comment.
There are countless other similar stories where students are left unsatisfied with college dining food. It’s up to the colleges and Aramark to do better for the students’ sake and it’s up to the students to speak up about what they want.
Sources:
https://www.verdictfoodservice.com/news/aramark-strengthens-collaboration-with-asu/
https://housing.asu.edu/housing-resources/housing-policies-and-procedures
https://sundevilhospitality.asu.edu/meal-plans/traditional-meal-plans
https://sundevilhospitality.asu.edu/meal-plans/meal-plan-faq
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-college-food/s/arizona/
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-college-food/
https://educationdata.org/average-monthly-food-spend-college-student
https://thehilltoponline.com/2025/09/29/new-name-same-stale-dining-experience/
https://www.asu.edu/police/logs/crimelog.pdf