University Forcing Non-Refundable Meal "Option"

[quincy]

But i don't only eat on campus... They have few options I enjoy and the ones I do are overpriced. $9 or $10 dollars a meal is average. Last semester I had $500 left at the end of the semester. I don't have $500 to waste. It's wasted money when I'm trying to pay my way through a somewhat affordable education. I like to be cheap, I will go to the grocery store and buy supplies. I can eat for a week for cheap, and if that's what I want to do, why can't I? Perhaps telling me that I have to deal with it isn't what I'm looking for. Perhaps im looking for why this is legal? Seems very much like a forced monopoly not sure how it isn't.

First, at the end of this post are two links to Appalachian State's meal plans. The only "optional" option for students living on campus is the option to set up an Express Account so funds for meals can be deposited in a student account that can be accessed through use of an "App Card." The App Card is separate from the mandatory meal account. It is just a way to pay for the meals as needed.

The students DO have meal plan options that range in cost from a low of $1035 per semester to a super plan costing $1880 (2016-2017 academic year). Any funds left over in a student's meal account is not refundable to the student although the balance carries over from one term to the next (fall to spring) in any one academic year. Any money not used for meals by the student by the end of the academic year goes into the school's food service budget.

There HAVE been legal challenges in the past, to the mandatory meal charges and to the unused meal money not being refundable. The meal plans have been called an "enrichment" of food vendors forced upon students by the state through their public universities. The schools argue that the meals are part of the educational experience. A few states have introduced bills that would eliminate all mandatory meal plans for students living on college campuses or to make unused funds refundable at the end of the academic year.

Links specific to Appalachian State meal plans:
http://studentaccounts.appstate.edu/tuition-and-fees
https://appcard.appstate.edu/students-parents/meal-accounts