See, this was my issue. I live literally across the street from Lakeside, but I’m lazy, and I’m generally going to pay $1.50 for a soda from the vending machine before I’ll walk over to the dining hall just to get a drink. The way it works is that there are to-go boxes and to-go cups, so each time you go in, you can ask for a box and cup, and fill them up with whatever you would like. I’ll stop on the way to class or home from class to get a drink, but I definitely won’t leave my dorm just to get something small. Some of the things it would be easy to stalk up on with a to-go box are cereal, bread, and any vegetables in the salad bar. Drinks aren’t really as easy, as there is only so much you can put in a cup.</p>
<p>So, what does all access means with the new meal plan? The student may be limited to say three swipes of your card? A cookie in the middle of the day counts as one of a three swipe limit? Or, is it that we just don’t know yet? I interpret Beth’s Mom’s quote above to mean no limit on the number of times a student may “stop in for a cookie” each day. If there this is truly an unlimited plan, I can deal with the change. I could easily see DS spending the difference between the silver plan and new freshman plan at the grocery store or vending machines for snacks each semester. But if it limits him from having three meals and then stopping by to grab an apple and glass of milk for a snack, I would be very disappointed.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how this will effect using the guest meals? At other schools with my older daughters our whole family would occasionally join them for dinner and it would count as 5 meal swipes for the same meal. If my son ends up at UA we are hoping to do the same thing (obviously not to exceed the 10 guest meal swipes per semester)</p>
<p>This isn’t just UA - freshman meal plans are crazy expensive at all the universities my kids have looked into. This is actually cheaper than many - maybe because you can only swipe once per meal period (if that’s correct).</p>
<p>*So, what does all access means with the new meal plan? The student may be limited to say three swipes of your card? A cookie in the middle of the day counts as one of a three swipe limit? *</p>
<p>I think you’re misunderstanding. Unlimited means UNLIMITED. You can swipe a 100+ times a day. NO LIMIT. You can go in for breakfast (swipe), go in for a cookie (swipe), then go in for a apple (swipe), go in for a Coke (swipe), go in for lunch (swipe), go in for ice cream (swipe), go in for dinner (swipe), go in for fruit, (swipe), go in for late night snack (swipe)…all in a day. NO LIMIT.</p>
<p>*. But if it limits him from having three meals and then stopping by to grab an apple and glass of milk for a snack, I would be very disappointed. [i/]</p>
<p>No limits. There isn’t a “3 meal” limit. There are NO limits. eat, drink, to go as often as you want.</p>
<p>This is actually cheaper than many - maybe because you can only swipe once per meal period (if that’s correct).</p>
<p>there are no “meal periods”. You can swipe as many times as you want. You can go in for breakfast (swipe), then if you decide to go right back and grab some fruit “to go”, then swipe again and get your fruit to go. There aren’t any rules that you can only swipe once between say 6am - 9am. You can swipe as many times as you want.</p>
<p>I e-mailed Bama Dining to ask about this, and here’s the response. It looks like it truly is unlimited.</p>
<p>She can swipe her card as many times as she likes each day literally if she wants a soda she can go in and swipe her card. They will be putting more information on the website as the summer gets started. Right now there is still a lot of information on the website for the current semester. I can tell you though just like it says it is All Access unlimited access to the Dining Halls. So yes, she could pop in for a soda at 4:00 and then eat at 5:30 for dinner and then come back for a late night study snack at 10:00.</p>
<p>It’s great to hear that the unlimited meal plan is truly unlimited. I was likely quoting an older rule or one that does not apply to unlimited meal plans.</p>
<p>As for taking pineapples from the dining halls, so much of the fresh fruit goes to waste because students don’t know that they are allowed to take any of the fruit and vegetables sitting out. When eating at Bryant, students often leave with a 32oz fountain drink, a piece of fruit, and a cookie or cornbread muffin.</p>
<p>There are these green re-usable boxes, but I think you buy those for some small charge. They’re shaped like styrofoam clam boxes with divided portions, but they’re clear green plastic.</p>
<p>This plan will actually works out well for my D who eats single items 6-8 times a day. She wasn’t looking forward to having to plan and sit down to a full meal three times a day or carry out food to stock up to be eaten throughout the day.<br>
She’s also planning to rush though, which may throw another curve in all of this.</p>
<p>Thanks. It sounds like it’s more of an individual thing. A friend’s D goes to a school that has a program where you pay $4-5 the first time you get a reusable take-out container, but then you can bring it back and exchange it for a clean one (i.e., the school washes them) or just return it and get the money back. Just about everyone participates; I’m not even sure they still use the styrofoam containers. I’m guessing Bama doesn’t have such a program.</p>
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<p>This is how my D is also. I actually think this will work out better for her. I also think the kids are less likely to overeat at the “all you care to eat” meals if they know they’re not limited to those 10 swipes a week. So maybe this is all for the good.</p>
<p>this doesn’t effect me, but i don’t think it is that big of a deal. if the student used the dining hall to replace one drink or snack per day that he would otherwise pay for, you would probably come out ahead. add to that that students could easily use this to “stock” their rooms with things like cereal/milk, fruit, other stuff, you could probably save on your grocery bill.</p>
<p>for kids who don’t/won’t eat at the dining hall … then i guess it is more of a problem.</p>
<p>kaylynsmom
“This is really irritating me. DD has not even started and I am getting the “nickle and dimed” feeling.”</p>
<p>Don’t worry Alabama’s not perfect but when you see all the good it will massively outweigh the bad. My son has stopped going to the dining hall much because he said was tired of the food. I brought the whole family down for the A day weekend intending to use his food plan guest passes. We stopped going before the weekend was out. This needs improving and friendly discourse is a good start. Remember non freshmen are not required to buy a food plan. Next year we plan to not buy any food plan because it’s only about $1 more per meal to just pay as you go. I will say however to be careful about criticizing Alabama on this board. My son is a freshman and the only other complaint I’ve had is the student football ticket process. I complained on this board but the thread disappeared which I thought was very Orwellian. I emailed the admin but no response. I won’t push it because the community on this board is very beneficial to Alabama. I will however email Dr. Bonner and the Athletic Director with my ideas of how to improve the situation.</p>
<p>I have never felt “nickel and dimed” at Bama. If you want to see “nickel and dimed”, then check out the websites of most colleges where they have various fees for EVERYTHING…fee for Student Center, fee for Recreation Center, fee for the Health Center, etc. Some schools are charging $1500+ in fees each semester. </p>
<p>Bama is trying something new this year with the frosh meal plan, and I can see why they’re doing so. </p>
<p>I do think that anyone who has any complaints about food variety or whatever, should contact the addresses above. </p>
<p>Perhaps this new change was implemented just so that they could properly provide more variety and longer hours. It’s hard to have more dining halls open during breakfast hours, if too many kids are saving their “swipes” for lunch and dinner.</p>
<p>To give you an idea of how other schools pack on fees, here’s UIUC’s fees (these do NOT include course fees which are additional).</p>
<p>These are “per semester”!</p>
<p>(12+ hours per semester)<br>
Service Fee $283<br>
General Fee $261<br>
Health Insurance Fee* $219<br>
Health Service Fee $230<br>
Transportation Fee $52
Student Initiated Fees $64
AFMFA $309 </p>
<h2>Library/Information Tech $244 </h2>
<p>Total $1,662 per semester (PLUS course fees)</p>
<p>Suny Binghamton just adds one big fee on top of tuition - $2,043</p>
<p>^^ Yes, and if you look at the Roll Call for class of 2016 students, you’ll see that Illinois is very well represented. No surprise there. UIUC is ridiculously expensive for a state school, and then they have a surcharge for engineering, science and business students that brings tuition and fees above $20,000 a year, IN-STATE. It’s within $2,000 of the Bama OOS tuition. They don’t nickel and dime you, they five and ten you. OK, rant over.</p>
<p>kaylynsmom: You will be really upset if your daughter does not like the food at Alabama, and she will not eat it. My son preferred PB & J over the dining hall’s offerings.</p>
<p>Do the dining halls accomodate gluten-free requirements with items such as gluten-free bread or pasta and non-contaminated preparation procedures?</p>