Can you get meal plans if leaving off-campus?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I know this is a very general question, but I was wondering if it is possible? The specific schools i'm looking into are ucla, usc, and uc berkeley. i think i will be living off campus to save money, but i was wondering if i can get meals on campus</p>

2

<p>This may be school specific. At Michigan you can, but I don’t know about anywhere else.</p>

3

<p>Yes, off-campus students can buy a meal plan. However, I would encourage you to pay the door rates a couple of times and see what the dining halls are like before you buy an expensive meal plan. You may discover that you do not like the food, or that you would have to wait in line for an hour to get food. There may be non-college-run eateries on campus that are cheaper or more convenient than the dining halls accepting meal plans. Upperclass students are a great source of advice on these matters!</p>

4

<p>Some schools even offer commuter plans to students that live off campus. Generally they’ll come with 5 meals a week with the idea that you can buy lunch there and you’ll probably be having dinner elsewhere since you’ll be off campus by then.</p>

5

<p>My guess is that your school would be more than willing to take your money. However, unless you really expect to be on campus that much, you probably will be better off looking into either a very slim meal plan or none at all. Bon appetit!</p>

6

<p>All the information is readily available on each college’s website.</p>

<p>[Living</a> at Cal - Meal Plans for Students Living Off Campus](<a href=“http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/mealplans_offcampus.html]Living”>http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/mealplans_offcampus.html)
[Non-Resident</a> Meal Plans (1003976)](<a href=“http://ptplv.ais.ucla.edu/portal/site/UCLA/menuitem.789d0eb6c76e7ef0d66b02ddf848344a/?vgnextoid=66eb06ec2fb6c110VgnVCM100000e1d76180RCRD&vgnextrefresh=1]Non-Resident”>http://ptplv.ais.ucla.edu/portal/site/UCLA/menuitem.789d0eb6c76e7ef0d66b02ddf848344a/?vgnextoid=66eb06ec2fb6c110VgnVCM100000e1d76180RCRD&vgnextrefresh=1)
<a href=“http://hospitality.usc.edu/forms/meal_plans.pdf[/url]”>http://hospitality.usc.edu/forms/meal_plans.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>If you’re planning to live off-campus TO SAVE MONEY…then I suggest you look into grocery shopping (read: Ramen noodles, and some healthy foods to keep your body healthy and fit) and mix that with eating out on occasions. In my experience, even living off restaurant meals all day comes out CHEAPER than eating in the college’s icky dining halls. It’s up to you, but your monetary trade-off makes no sense in my views! ;P</p>