<p>somewhat off topic: an interesting twist on “meal swipes.”</p>
<p>My son’s community service organization coordinates students buying bag lunches with their otherwise unused meal swipes near the end of the week and takes them to a homeless shelter.</p>
<p>Calmom, we found out the exact same thing. Do the math. My son’s meal plan was EXACTLY the same cost as what they’d charge anyone who came to the cafeteria and paid out-of-pocket for 3 meals each day. When the kids discovered this, they all dropped down to the lowest meal plan.</p>
<p>My advice is to see what your son actually wants to eat. Many, many like that I know love my school’s cafeteria food. I hate it. I feel like it’s not healthy and it’s not at all the type of food that I am accustomed to eating and it’s a rip-off. Anyway.</p>
<p>I had a ten-meal a week plan my freshman year, when it was required and I didn’t have a kitchen, and I still had to struggle to use them up. Since then, I have had a kitchen, and have not been back to the cafeteria. Also, if he doesn’t eat a lot at once, dining dollars can be a better deal. My meal plan averaged out to eleven dollars a meal, and I could spend much less than that eating out around campus.</p>
<p>Of course every college is different, but at son’s college EVERYONE recommended taking the lowest cost meal plan allowed with the most flexible dining bucks. My son ate breakfast in his room (he always has cereal and got assigned an apt. so this was particularly easy). Even the lowest cost plan was too much food for him and he didn’t like most of the choices. (I admit he eats like a bird and is horribly picky.) In their school you can change plan levels a few weeks into the term, but I think only to get more food not less.</p>
<p>thanks, everyone! My S’s school charges a flat fee for meals if you don’t buy the “blocks,” like calmom’s school. On the other hand, the school is somewhat away from town, so he may not have a lot of options during the week. It also has a lot of veg/vegan, “healthy” food that he will probably like. We will most likely go with the max dining dollars and add or adjust as necessary. My older S has to buy the meal plan every year at his school and there is only one choice - he hates the food and rarely uses it, which is a real waste of money.</p>
<p>My freshman S fixed his schedule so that he didn’t have to wake up before the crack of 10AM. That eliminated breakfast. He would eat 3 meals a day but only lunch and dinner in the dining hall. As best as I could tell, the last meal ended being some sort of foraging expedition, with he and his friends ■■■■■■■■ whatever sub shop - food truck happened to be around.</p>
<p>Choosing meal plan is not as important as it seems. Estimate and whatever is left will be either rolled over (for some semsters) or check will be returned to you. If you underestimate, then they can pay at the counter. There is a period of time when it can be changed, and a different plan could be chosen for a next semster.</p>
<p>^^No rollovers or checks back in our meal plan. Use it or lose it. DS had to stock up on tons of overpriced juices at the school store to use up his money.</p>
<p>Same with our school - no rollovers or checks back for unused meals. Unused block meals expire at the end of every week, which seems extreme to me. I think the dining dollars that come with the plan may rollover until the end of the year.</p>
<p>Mathmom, did you contact school with this question? Originally, we misunderstood the policy and had impression that it is like yours. Asking school cleared it up. Well, if not, then I would go with the cheaper one.</p>
<p>One of the student tour guides at a college we visited told us that picking a smaller meal plan and more flexible dining dollars was a big advantage – you can always use the flex dollars to buy more cafeteria meals, but you can’t use the unused or unneeded cafeteria meals to necessarily buy what you want from the various cafes. Even where you can, it may not be cost effective to spend a $9.50 meal to get a $2.50 coffee. </p>
<p>D typically starts the day with a protein bar and a cup of (plain old ordinary) coffee. I’m thinking we’ll get her stocked up with some bars for the dorm room, and she’ll use flex dollars to get the coffee. If she changes her mind and decides she wants more cafeteria meals it is easy to upgrade plans – but not so easy to downgrade them.</p>
<p>An extra thought–it’s good to have a certain number of meals on the plans so if your student goes through money or dining dollars to quickly while learning to budeget for campus life, at least he won’t starve! For the first semester, at least, I’ve always gotten my boys a meal plan with about 2 meals/day, and then later switched to fewer meals with more dining dollars or plain old cash.</p>
<p>Remember that a lot of people would rather have a bowl of cereal or similar in their room than spend the time and effort to trek to the cafeteria for a full breakfast. This is a personal choice, but should be considered. At lunch people are usually out and about and would want to buy lunch, and dinner during the week is good to have cooked for you - if you are like I was in school. Even poor work study students like to get a pizza or whatever on Saturday night, so why take a mean plan for that? Fewer meals with more flexibility as others have said sounds good.</p>
<p>S also went for the cheapest meal plan & was happy with it. He NEVER rises for breakfast & is happy with just 10 meals a week–lunches & dinners & free to go where he wants for remaining meals. His friend bought the maximum plan & ended up buying tons of stuff at the end of the term, using up his dining $$. His school allows folks to switch from 1st semester to 2nd semester, but he was happy with his plan for both semesters. Most of his friends also liked the fewer meals/week, allowing them to feel more comfortable experimenting with cooking or getting away from campus for food on weekends without wasting food $$.</p>
<p>D never bought a meal plan but just purchases meals as she feels like it or buys whatever she wants when she dines with her friends. After 1st year, S did not have any meal plan & since D was a transfer, she wasn’t required to have a meal plan either.</p>
<p>They really DO get tired of the cafeteria fare, even tho it’s tough to imagine since they have so many more options than we did “back in the day.”</p>
<p>Lots of helpful messages - thank you all so much.</p>
<p>I would say to definitely do the math before any meal plan is chosen. I don’t think colleges usually swindle students out of their money…but…I guess it’s possible. xD</p>
<p>Flexible Dining Dollars and occasional eating-out sounds like the way to go if your college offers a dining dollar deal. </p>
<p>Not entirely sure myself though…but I guess, like many other aspects of college, just make sure you know the ins and outs of what you’re choosing.</p>
<p>most of the kids I have talked to favor the 2 meals a day plan for freshmen (but these don’t “run out” unless you go over) Most for one reason or another always tend to miss one meal - practice, rehearsals, sleeping in (lol), and leave campus a couple times a month. Most said the full meal deal was not able to be taken full advantage of.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, skinny as a rail S is eating 3 meals a day in the cafeteria, sometimes 4. They also have a ‘late night’, which is very popular after an evening seminar class, so they often go to that.</p>
<p>I’m paying for a 19 meal plan. My daughter’s only eating about 2 meals a day. The rest she’s been using to treat weekend guests or buy late night snacks. </p>
<p>Next year, no required meal plan!!</p>
<p>Another couple of things to consider when evaluating meal $$ vs cafeteria meals… </p>
<p>What are the non-cafeteria choices for using the $$? Some schools have generic food outlets around campus and others have franchise (Wendy’s Taco Bell, Java Juice, etc.) that seem to detract further from the attractiveness of cafeteria food back at the dorm. </p>
<p>And speaking of the dorm cafeteria(s), where are they located in relationship to where your student will be spending time. Often campuses will isolate the dorms from the academic and social areas of campus, making walking back to the dorm for lunch or even dinner inconvenient. This adds to the likelyhood of using $$ for meals. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if the cafeteria meals have a central outlet on campus and the $$ are only usable at establishments at the fringe of campus, the time starved student may plunk down in the cafeteria between classes for lunch.</p>
<p>One last thought, often schools will allow you to use $$ at convenience stores around campus to buy convenience food (microwave mac and cheese, etc). These are good things to spend excess $$ on at the end of the term (use it or lose it), so this decreases the penalty for going heavier on the $$ than on the meals.</p>
<p>Food for thought… (Pun intended)</p>