<p>My sons almost never eat off campus. My freshman was worried about running out of points at the end of his first semester, but he ended up with extra points he couldn’t use. He used his points for my lunch the day I picked him up after finals. There were plenty of other parents in the dining hall for the same reason.</p>
<p>He keeps some easy food in his room for the days he wants breakfast. There is also free food from campus events from time to time. </p>
<p>He only came home once his first semester, and still didn’t have a problem with points. He does drink water and rarely buys dessert.</p>
<p>So even if your budget won’t permit eating off campus (or food delivery), you should be fine.</p>
<p>They put limits on 251 so that it doesn’t get overly crowded the last few weeks of the semester when everyone would want to use up any leftover meals.
You can always go more often if you’re willing to spend 18 dining points to do so, which if you have a lot left over isn’t a huge deal. Just keep in mind the 40 point spending cap that goes into effect the last couple weeks of the semester.</p>
<p>The last few weeks of a semester you can only spend 40 dining points a day so people who still have several hundred can’t do something like try to buy every cookie in the diner.</p>
<p>My D, going into her junior year, found the mid-level dining plan to be a little light for her, especially her freshman year. She is an average-sized girl. I imagine (sounding sexist here, I know) that most big-eating boys would need the biggest plan of the three. I have a 17 year old son and I know he would need the largest/most expensive dining plan there. She says she usually didn’t go to breakfast and most people usually don’t. She LOVED 251 and she and her friends went there every monday night religiously for a year.</p>