As of the Fall 2021 semester all UMass Lowell students living on campus are required to have a meal plan. Previously UMass Lowell did not require apartment style dorms to have a meal plan. My friend and I currently live in River Hawk Village which is an apartment style dorm and we are required to pay $2,100 a semester for 7 meals a week and $1,000 River Hawk dollars. All apartment style rooms come with a full kitchen to cook meals, yet we are forced to have a meal plan. This prevents us from being able to buy our own groceries and cook our own meals. After the whole fiasco in 2019, the dining halls underwent a makeover after news broke of mold, bugs and bacteria in the food. This came with a change, yet the problem still persists as a student has already found a maggot in their soup to start their semester (Click Here). This semester they've decided to remove numerous dining options on campus which include: River Hawk's Nest, Southwick, Subway(south campus), and Freshii. They are limiting the places where we can spend our River Hawk dollars, which is half the price of our meal plan and keeping low stock at the places that are left to spend River Hawk dollars like the P.O.D market. We are hoping for UMass Lowell to go back to their old dining plans that did not force apartment style students to have a meal plan.