Effective Fall 2025, USC Hospitality will scrap the apartment meal plan option and replace it with Flex120, which will be the minimum required meal plan for sophomores, juniors and seniors living in University housing. Flex120 costs $1,975 per semester, while the apartment meal plan costs $835 in Spring 2025 — an increase of over $1,100. 

The Flex120 meal plan includes 120 meal swipes for campus dining halls, while the apartment meal plan includes 40 meal swipes. While both plans include 150 dining dollars, the Flex120 meal swipes will also work at most restaurants in Tutor Campus Center, according to the University site. Flex120 costs less per meal, as each meal swipe would now cost $15 instead of $17.  

“In reviewing our meal plans and benchmarking against peer universities, the apartment plan was found to be inadequate in providing meals throughout the semester,” USC Hospitality wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan. “The new Flex120 plan provides a better transition for non-first year students in USC Housing, following their unlimited dining hall meal plan during their first year.”

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Sophia Arias, a freshman majoring in environmental science and health, said the Flex120 meal plan is a “downgrade” from the previous plan due to its price.

“Cooking for yourself as a sophomore in college is a better practice because you’re transitioning into adulthood, you’re living away from home,” Arias said. “Being able to cook for yourself is a large part of your fundamental development into an adult.”  

Arias said it feels like a “slap in the face” to realize the “exorbitant” amount students are already paying is not enough. She said she found it “surprising, shocking and concerning” that USC Hospitality increased the prices so drastically in one year.

 “If they’re going to change the meal plan, they need to change the dining hall practices to be more diverse and equitable for students,” Arias said.

Steve Kim, a freshman majoring in biochemistry, said the mandatory status of Flex120 “sucks.” Kim said that after having experienced two cases of food poisoning from eating at USC’s dining halls, he was planning on avoiding eating there sophomore year and onward with an intention to order takeout or make use of the kitchens that apartments are equipped with. 

As someone with food allergies, Cedric Bagwell, a freshman majoring in biomedical engineering, said he has to make personal requests at the dining halls, which is often time consuming. He said that while the new meal plan could be a useful addition, it makes him feel a little frustrated to have to pay more for a service that he’ll be accessing only a fraction of due to his allergies.

USC Hospitality said the new plan ensures students have access to meals at a lower price and provides flexibility to dine at dining halls, Tutor Campus Center and to order meals through the Campus Dining mobile app.

Beatrix Brundjar, a freshman majoring in global geodesign, said she intended to cook for herself instead of eating at dining halls so she could better address her health accommodations. 

Brundjar said while the price hike was “crazy,” she feels like Hospitality is trying to get students to use more meal swipes, knowing that students usually don’t.  

“It feels very suspicious to me since they only increased the number of meal swipes,” Brundjar said. “They’re just trying to get money.”

Symone Henry, a freshman majoring in physics, said the price increase in the required plan may make it more difficult for students like herself, who rely on financial aid. Henry said at an “established campus” like USC, students should not have to “scramble” to pay for a meal plan.

The price hike also made Bethania Dagim, a freshman majoring in civil engineering, reconsider choosing to live in USC Housing next semester, given that she said USC does not live up to its cost.

“I wonder if the University is purposely trying to push students out because I know that there’s always issues with a lack of housing on campus,” Dagim said. “These kinds of moves, especially combined with other moves made by the University like cutting tuition assistance benefits, are really going to hurt middle and lower class students the most.”

Disclaimer: Sophia Arias was previously a copy staffer for the Daily Trojan in Fall 2024. She is no longer affiliated with this publication.