Lindenwood Student Government has proposed a bill to the administration that would allow students more flexibility in using their meal plans.

LSG Vice President Emelyn Smuszkiewicz created the bill to fight the rising inflation at popular campus dining spots like Chick-Fil-A and Qdoba.

Rather than having a dollar limit on how much students can spend on an individual meal, Smuszkiewicz suggests a switch to give students access to the total amount of money they can spend on meals per day.

This would allow students who get three meals per day at a limit of $10 to instead have $30 to spend on food for the entire day.

Smuszkiewicz began working on the bill after noticing that many students had to use a portion of their dining dollars to get a full meal.

“As a student myself, I saw a problem that needed to be fixed and I have the power and ability to do so,” Smuszkiewicz said.

Smuszkiewicz surveyed 250 students from Sept. 12 to Sept. 16 about their experiences with meal plan limitations. In the results of her survey, 89 percent said that they had experienced not being able to get the food they wanted because it costed more than $10, while 71 percent said that they went hungry because of the food prices for a single meal.

A total of 142 vegan and vegetarian students participated in the survey, and 72 percent of those students said that they have been needing to use dining dollars to get a meal. This is because vegetarian and vegan food options cost extra and are not fully covered in the $10 meal price limit.

Of the 250 students surveyed, 82 percent said that they were in favor of changing the meal plan system.

“Students did voice that they believe this is only the first step, and that much more needs to be done in order for food on campus to be adequate,” LSG Director of Finance George Pezold said.

The bill has currently been passed by the executive board of LSG and the general assembly which consists of student representatives from campus organizations.

To implement this bill into Lindenwood dining, the bill must also be passed by many administration members.

Smuszkiewicz is hopeful that her bill will grow into standard dining practice.

“I would feel really good knowing I have done something good for students and that I have made real change on campus,” Smuszkiewicz said.