<p>S2 claims he's running out of MP money with over a month to go, is this possible? I don't get it</p>
<p>You pay per thing you get. So, whoever S2 is obviously overspent - bought a lot of expensive stuff. Luckily, its very easy to add money onto the meal plan. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone running out of meal plan dollars.</p>
<p>the way the bing meal plans work is you pay $X and they deduct an amount upfront to cover their overhead – the amount left is what you get to spend. since they deduct the overhead upfront, the prices in the dining hall are pretty cheap. but you can also use your money at retail locations (food court, coffee kiosk) where the prices are higher. there are several different levels of meal plan you can start off with – the one they automatically put students in is a middle level for an average eater.</p>
<p>if your son simply eats a lot of food in the dining hall, or buys often at retail locations, he could use up his money. it is easy to add additional money – all the additional money you add is spending money (no additional overhead is deducted).</p>
<p>you can choose a higher level meal plan for future semesters if you want, or you can just add whenever he needs more money. money left at the end of a semester carries over to the next semester IF you still have a meal plan.</p>
<p>How do you differentiate between plan dining halls vs retail eateries on campus? Do the kids know which is which?</p>
<p>[Dining</a> Services, Binghamton University](<a href=“http://budining.com/plans/index.html]Dining”>http://budining.com/plans/index.html) should answer most of your questions – scroll down and you’ll see a list of residential dining vs. retail. other links at top of the page may also help you find any additional info you want.</p>
<p>basically residential dining means the dining halls in the dorm communities.</p>
<p>This is a very deceptive system where 60% of the funds go to “food service fees”</p>
<p>the idea is they collect this upfront and then charge very low prices for the food itself. if someone who isn’t on a meal plan eats at a dining hall, they are charged 2.5 times the meal plan price to reflect the fact that the non-meal plan diner hasn’t already paid towards overhead. </p>
<p>i’m not defending it – the plan is what it is. it’s been that way for years. but i don’t think you can call it deceptive. they are very open about what they are doing. all the terms are clearly spelled out at the website – how much comes out for operating expenses, which facilities are retail.</p>
<p>Tell that to a kid who’s hungry RIGHT NOW or the retail place is more convenient.
In any event, it certainly doesn’t benefit the kids(ie, the parents paying).</p>
<p>You only pay “retail price” if you eat at the Nite Owl (the only food places that are open late) or the Union food court. You can pay cash at these places, so you don’t have to use your meal plan dollars if you don’t want to.</p>
<p>Stageforsurvivor, </p>
<p>As a student myself I found that the mealplan at school was actually very beneficial last year. In fact, I actually had over 150 dollars left over at the end of the year which carried over to this year. While the service charge may seem high, the prices on campus in dining halls are much lower than would be paid anywhere else because of the fee paid to cover overhead. Anything else on campus, such as Nightowl (late night cafes) and Jazzmens (the coffee shops) are priced as they would normally be off campus, but accept meal plan money as well as cash/credit. I hope this reassures you a little.</p>
<p>James
BU Student Admissions Ambassador</p>
<p>Looking at his statement, many purchases are listed as acc2 or acc3, what is that?</p>
<p>ACC is Appalachian-- is he in Mountainview? That’s the Mountainview dining hall.
For what it’s worth, I’ve heard a lot of other people complain that they’re down to under $100 (or worse), but I’m still at $620 without even trying very hard so it’s definitely possible to budget.</p>
<p>Budget? Budget? LOL</p>
<p>Yes, MV. He likes to eat late</p>
<p>Ooh, that’s an interesting point… the late night prices are much higher than the regular prices. Ex. a small soda is 21 cents, I think, but when I got one at late night it cost $1.50.</p>
<p>My D has also complained about the prices at Nite Owl, and she said her bf added $200 to his account and is close to burning through that too. The kids need to eat primarily from the dining hall and avoid the higher priced Nite Owl. When we went up for Parents Weekend we went shopping and bought her a lot of things she could make in the microwave in her room.</p>