Student Union Vice President Charlotte Franco ’15 announced in an email to the community on Sunday that the University will see the implementation of a new meal plan system at the beginning of the next academic year.

In her email, Franco wrote that the Student Union and the Senate Dining Committee have worked closely with Sodexo and the University administration to create the new meal plan structure, which will include the introduction of a more flexible “meal exchange program” that will allow students to use meal swipes at various campus locations, including the Stein, Louis’ Deli and the Hoot Market.

While many students have taken to social media to express concerns about the increased price of the new meal plans since the announcement, Franco wrote in her email that the Union’s discussions with Sodexo and the administration have “resulted in lower-cost meal options than what was originally proposed.”

In the email, Franco listed the many different meal plan options, which vary slightly for each class. All members of the Class of 2018 who live on campus will be required to have a meal plan for next year and may choose from four different options. Students can select from the 19 meal plan, which costs $3,053 per semester, the 15 meal plan, which costs $3,016 per semester, and the 12 and 10 meal plans, which cost $2,978 and $2,750 per semester respectively. Each plan also includes a set number of dining points.

Members of the Class of 2017 who will be living on campus are also required to be on a meal plan, regardless of whether or not they live in on-campus housing that includes a kitchen. In addition to the four meal plans offered to the Class of 2018, students in the Class of 2017 are offered “block plans,” which allot a certain number of meals for the semester instead of on a weekly basis. The two block plan options that are available are the 120 meal plan, which costs $2,100 and the 80 meal plan, which costs $1,875.

The Class of 2016 has, according to the email, been “grandfathered into the previous system” of meal plans, and students will not be required to be on a meal plan if they live in on-campus housing with a kitchen. However, students may choose to be on any of the available meal plan options listed above and have two extra options of block meal plans. In addition to the 120 and 80 block plans, they will also have the option of a 90 meal plan and a 60 meal plan, both of which will cost under $1,000. As in previous years, students who live off campus will not be required to be on a meal plan but may elect any of the above options should they desire to do so.

Vice President of Operations James Gray wrote in an email to the Justice that the University is in the process of “phasing in increased participation” in the meal plan program through requiring all students who live on campus to buy a meal plan, a policy that was not mandatory in previous years. “Full participation from all on campus housing is a key element of creating a high quality and economically sustainable dining program at Brandeis,” Gray wrote.

Senate Dining Committee Chair Ben Margolin ’17 wrote in an email to the Justice that the University’s contract with Sodexo has stated for two years now that all students on campus will be required to join a meal plan. He also noted that this policy was “not Sodexo specific” and would have been implemented even with the contract-renewal of Aramark, the University’s previous food service.

Since the University hired Sodexo as the on-campus food service in 2013, many changes have been made to both the meal plan system and the dining services. The most recent change regarding meal plans was in January, when a new meal period schedule was implemented after student complaints about the lack of flexibility with what times they could use meal swipes. The new policy increased the number of meal periods from three per day to five per day, according to a Jan. 19 Justice article.

The meal plan options were also changed at the end of the 2014 spring semester, but students did not like the removal of the meal equivalencies and the increased price of plans. Executive Director of the Student Union David Heaton ’17 is quoted in a Sept. 29 Justice article as saying that the meal plan changes made last spring did not fit student interests in the way they wanted. Heaton said that the meal structure implemented last spring, was “not agreed upon by the student body.”

Franco wrote in an email to the Justice that the Union wanted the new meal plan changes to fully represent what students wanted. “Being a part of this process became even more important when we were informed of the new mandate that all on-campus students needed to have a meal plan,” Franco wrote. She noted that the most positive aspect of the new meal plan policies is that “students have options” to choose from, more so than in previous years.

Regarding the increase in price, Franco noted that meal plans continually become more expensive as University tuition rises, as they increase four percent each year with tuition.

Sodexo’s General Manager Shawn Monaghan has said that he wants to continue to increase the level of communication between the Dining Services on campus and the student body. Sodexo, in coordination with the Student Union Senate Dining Committee, has held several dining forums over the past year as a way for students to address their dining concerns directly with Sodexo management. During these forums, students have repeatedly cited their concerns with both the cost of meal plans and the number of meal plan options available. Students also held a protest against Sodexo last September, during which they expressed opposition to the price of the new meals plans and their lack of flexibility, according to a Sept. 23 Justice article.