<p>Am I better of with 21 meals a week or 16 meals a week that comes with $100 bonus bucks? I can't imagine I will want to eat in the caf every single day for every single meal which is why the 21 meals a week seems a bit much. Any advice? and could anyone find the prices on these? (couldn't find them online)</p>
<p>I’d personally pick the 16 meals a week plan. You can always add onto your plan if you want, and that way you won’t be wasting any of your own money if you decide to not use up all the meals in a week.</p>
<p>Here are the school’s plans: [Carolina</a> Dining](<a href=“Carolina Food Co. - Carolina Food Co. | University of South Carolina”>Carolina Food Co. - Carolina Food Co. | University of South Carolina)</p>
<p>We just did the analysis on this for my daughter who is just finishing her freshman year. She had only used an average 12 meals a week because of the timing of the plans, cafeteria hours, class schedules, etc. The 16 plan plus $100 was the minimum required for a freshman. Depending on your dorm you may not even be able to get the breakfast meal, you would have to go to Russell House before your classes. If you don’t, you’ve lost that meal, it doesn’t roll over to the next period. She got very creative by the end of the year on how to maximize the meals versus using up the precious bonus bucks.</p>
<p>I would like to correct one thing easmesmom said. The minimum meal plan for freshmen is 10/week. I personally had 16 freshman year, and while I used all of them I think once, I liked it for the extra bonus bucks.</p>
<p>i need help deciding on a meal plan also. i’m so confused by what counts as a meal! i know there are a bunch of restaurants on campus (i’m so excited for the taco bell!) but what kind of meal plan do i want if i want to eat at the restaurants at the russell house? </p>
<p>i’d like to get the meal plans that give bonus bucks (i’ll be a grad student so thats 200!) but do those plans only allow for eating in the cafeteria?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>I definitely recommend the 16 over the 21. Very few people manage to actually use their full 21 meal plan on a regular basis. The bonus bucks will be nice to have, because there are some places on campus where the cost of your meal with probably go over your meal plan allotment (i.e. Pandini’s, Colloquium, etc.). If you have bonus bucks, then you can just use those to cover the difference. If you don’t have bonus bucks, you can just use Carolina Cash (or real money) instead. If you are coming in with AP credits and have bonus bucks already, then I suggest the 14 instead of the 16 (my mom calculated it all out at one point, and I think somehow it’s a better deal).
cogneuro76- The meal plan is good for everywhere on campus, not just the cafeteria in Russell. If you want bonus bucks, (I believe) you can’t get one of the block plans, and you have to get at least ten meals per week. The ten meal plan is what I have now, and compared to the other options, it’s a bit of a rip-off, but it was cheaper than 14, and I wasn’t using 14 anyway.</p>
<p>I’m just trying to figure this out for my son. He lives about an hour and a half away, so I expect that he will occasionally come home for the weekend, but with him playing in the marching band, it probably won’t be that often.</p>
<p>All one would have to do to cost justify the cost of the 21 meal plan ($1339) over the 16 mean plan ($1361-$100 = $1261) is to just use 17 meals a week. Assuming that during the week you ate 3 times a day, and just twice over a weekend, that would be 17 a week. If one ate 17 times a week, that’s not really “wasting” anything, any meals over 17 would just be a bonus.</p>
<p>When I went to college I almost ALWAYS ate all three meals on campus during the week, and usually the evening meal on Sunday night - but I went home every weekend. I wouldn’t think it would be unusual for a student who is pretty much on campus during the weekend (and broke) to eat at several times on campus over the course of a weekend.</p>
<p>So has college life changed that much??? Where are you guy’s eating? Off campus? Dormrooms? Skipping meals?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for all college students, but for me, it’s a little bit of all of that. Sometimes, I miss the meal period because I slept in and didn’t have time to grab breakfast before class, was off campus for something, was busy, etc. During the week, there are lots of food options that are all pretty good, but Friday night-Sunday afternoon, the options tend to be a bit less appealing. In any of those cases, I might eat off campus or in my room. Being gone on the weekends can also make using your meal full meal plan a bit more difficult, although not impossible, if you plan things out and are aware of it. It’s not just going home you’ll have to consider, but other things like club sports, football games, volunteering, random adventures with friends, etc. For some kids, the 21 meal plan absolutely works. For others, not so much. It depends on each individual. Remember too- you can always increase your meal plan, but you can’t decrease it.</p>
<p>Take the lowest meal plan available to you and put the extra money into dining dollars,or Carolina Cash, or whatever the name is now,also as cash on a debit card for the student to use. It allows more variety and flexibility.And for all the scenarios Embers mentioned above.</p>