Not so long ago, Marquette students had very limited dining options. Dining halls were only open for certain hours each day, and there was no such thing as meal exchanges. Students on meal plans used their swipes at the dining halls — or not at all.

But things are different now. Sodexho has improved its dining system and now offers students more options. It is hard to beat the convenience of having 15 places to dine around campus. We like being able to use meal exchanges at Marquette Place and at the Brew. Despite these upgrades, Sodexho needs to offer even more dining options to students.

Marquette students who purchase meal plans pay between $1,490 and $1,800 per semester. For the per-meal dining plans, this breaks down to $11.92 per meal on the $1,490 Block 125 plan and $9.26 per meal on the $1,620 Block 175 plan. This is not exactly chump change — you could purchase a meal at a fairly nice restaurant for these prices.

When students use meal exchanges, they end up paying more for their food than they would if they purchased the same items with cash. And they are using exchanges on meals that don't offer many options.

For example, the bagel meal available at Marquette Place's Einstein Bros. Bagels isn't worth between $9.26 and $11.92. But we're willing to use our exchanges on this meal because of the convenience Marquette Place offers. However, Sodexho could improve the offering by giving students more choices. We are confident that allowing students to get coffee (instead of soda) with their bagel in the morning would not break Sodexho's bank.

At New York City Subs, we think it is more than fair to ask for turkey on our sandwiches. Keeping the price per meal in mind, this is really not much of a concession for Sodexho. The actual sandwich costs far less than what students pay for it when they use meal exchanges. If supply is limited, Sodexho could alternate between offering turkey sandwiches and ham sandwiches on different days, or at the very least, allow students to pay a small extra charge to switch out their lunch meats.

And we have to ask: Since when has six pieces of sushi been considered an entire meal? A six-piece package of California rolls sells for $3.99, yet students are exchanging $9.25 or $11.92 for this snack, depending on the meal plan they are on. If Sodexho offered additional items, like a salad or a drink, with the sushi on the meal exchange plan, we'd be more willing to stomach the per-meal cost.

We strongly encourage Sodexho to explore a per-swipe spending limit, instead of offering only one or two options for each exchange. For example, students could be allowed to make purchases of up to $7 with each meal exchange. For food items that exceed $7, students could pay the appropriate additional cost. Sodexho would still make money from the meal exchange program and students would be a lot happier with the additional choices.

We are pleased Sodexho is taking the first steps toward expanding options for students, but its work is not done. Sodexho needs to offer more choices for real value. Shape up, Sodexho. We're hungry.