<p>any advice for whether a freshman should choose a 5-day or 7-day meal plan? my daughter will be only one hour from home, but i don't know that she'd be coming home more than once every 4-5 weeks. thanks!</p>
<p>Realistically, I think I should’ve gotten the 5 day meal plan when I was a freshman because I rarely made it out to the dining hall on the weekends (mostly out of laziness) because the only ones open are Ohouse and ECV (at least that’s how it was when I was a freshman). I tended to eat out with friends on the weekends or was just too lazy to walk to Ohouse from my dorm and just ate mac n cheese. I would get the 7 day if she thinks she’s actually going to eat there on the weekends, but I feel like many of my friends and I rarely ate at the dining hall on the weekends.</p>
<p>D had the 7 day plan. The price difference was so little it seemed worth it even if she only used it a few times. I think she had breakfast/ lunch in the dining halls.</p>
<p>We live just over an hr away. D would do an 18 hr drive through every month or so : )</p>
<p>D had the 7 day plan but if I had to do it over again, even with the small price difference, I would go with the 5 day. Not all dining halls are open on the weekends and they all close at 2 on Sunday so you have to eat out Sunday night anyway. No one really gets up for breakfast so 7 day was a waste of money. They will push you hard at orientation for the 7 day.</p>
<p>It depends on your child and the location of the dorm. Some kids can’t be bothered to trek over to the dining hall in rotten weather or if they are feeling lazy. My child is an early riser and lived very near O house so she almost always used the meal plan for breakfast and lunch during the weekends. For us, the negligible cost difference was definitely worth it.</p>