<p>Can anyone explain "dining passes" and "dining dollars" as far as how many of each would work best ? According to the dining services rate schedule there are so many more dining dollars offered than dining passes. I guess the dining dollars are used for incidental food not found in the dorms--more in the convenience shops/cafes ? My son most likely will eat 3 meals a day most of the time on campus, give or take some in town. So what's a good plan ?</p>
<p>I just found a thread from 2008 - oops. Should have read that first but if anyone has thoughts to share, please do ! :-))</p>
<p>[Market</a> Central](<a href=“http://www.pc.pitt.edu/dining/mealplans/mealplan_choose.html]Market”>http://www.pc.pitt.edu/dining/mealplans/mealplan_choose.html)</p>
<p>this might help you out</p>
<p>Thank you pierre0913 this is very helpful !</p>
<p>Keep in mind your son’s class schedule. My D’s classes are 10 or 11 AM so she eats cereal, etc. in her room before class as it is too late for the dining hall. You have sometime to switch the meal plan in the beginning of the semester. My D was a meal short on the last day - so remarkably I think we got the right plan!</p>
<p>Just curious- do the Dining Passes and Dining Dollars expire every semester or can you carry them over to the next term?</p>
<p>And I read somewhere Panther Funds don’t expire for the 4 years.</p>
<p>Would appreciate some feedback</p>
<p>I have found that there was quite a lot of waste at the end of each semester leading to stocking up on packaged snacks and drinks. Even for my big eater, one of the smallest food plans was always adequate as students often eat at non-university establishments.</p>
<p>Dining Dollars and Dining passes expire at the end of the semester and do not carry over.</p>
<p>I think Panther Funds last all 4 years but I’m not sure</p>
<p>Yes, Dining Dollars and Dining passes expire at the end of each semester. Panther Funds carry over and don’t expire. You can always put money into the Panther Fund account if your student runs out of Dining passes or dollars.</p>
<p>The DD + DP plans seem very expensive to me, ranging from about $8.75 to $14.00 per meal. That is certainly more expensive than any breakfast or lunch I would get, and maybe even more than some dinners. That is bad enough, but think of the cost of wasted meals! I think you could possible do better paying cash.</p>
<p>That is something I haven’t yet heard about ! Interesting…Everyone has been giving such good advice. When we visit in a week and a half we will gather more info and make a good choice.</p>
<p>I would get the smallest meal plan you think you will use - and then reevaluate after the semester begins. My D did say a lot of people got meal plans way bigger than what they needed.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree. If your student runs out, you can purchase $100 increments at Panther Central.</p>
<p>You are also allowed to change your meal plan during the first two weeks of the semester by visiting Panther Central and filling out a Meal Plan Change request form. After two weeks, you’re locked in till the end of the semester.</p>
<p>I’ll just add to what everyone else is saying- ALWAYS GET THE SMALLEST MEAL PLAN. A lot of people have left over dinning dollars/dining passes and they simply go to waste. If you run out, you can ALWAYS get more!!!</p>
<p>The passes are appropriate for BIG MEALS. I can see maybe huge guys eating 2 or 3 huge meals a day, but not most people. We were advised to get the second tier of meals, and to get C or D of that. It seems to be a huge waste to have a lot of passes left over to go to waste at the end of the semester.</p>
<p>I did second tier first semester and had 35 extra passes, and I was eating 2-3 meals a day! This semester I did the lowest tier, least meals most dining dollars and it has worked out well. Definitely get a low plan and see how it goes the first week and change if you need to.</p>
<p>Other thing:</p>
<p>Dining DOLLARS are part of your meal plan. You can only use them ON CAMPUS (this confused me when I first got a meal plan). The places that you’d use them would be: anything at the Pete, QuickZone (mini grocery store), Schenley Cafe (Union), Cathedral Cafe, Einsteins, Coffee Carts.</p>
<p>Panther funds are essentially turning your ID into a check card. These can be used at a load of places on and off campus. Sometimes places will charge you a dollar to use your panther funds though I think, so watch out.</p>
<p>Meal PASSES can only be used at the Perch on upper campus, Market Central on lower campus, or Market to Go on lower. FYI Market food isn’t horrible, but get’s terribly boring after a few weeks.</p>
<p>Keeping all that in mind decide what you would like. I definitely reccomend thinking on a “weekly” basis of how you will eat and multiply by 15.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I went with a really low plan- something like 100 passes 500 dollars. I hope it works out okay because everyone has been saying go low…</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know if you can use dining dollars or cash at market central, or just dining passes?</p>
<p>you can use dining dollars & cash & credit cards at Market. But I wouldn’t advise it, the breakfasts are like $8, lunch is $10, and dinner is $11, late night is $8-9 maybe? Something along those lines. Expensive.</p>
<p>Anyways if its because you want other people to visit you can swipe YOUR card for them. I.E. Have your card swiped twice (essentially use 2 passes) and one is for your guest. If it is because you are worried that you’ll run out of passes for market. dont be. It’s cheaper and better to get food from oakland (Schezuan, Five Guys, Subway, Chipotle etc.)</p>
<p>^^^ Very true. Lots of dining options in Oakland. There’s also a newish supermarket on Forbes (on the second story) that’s handy for buying canned soup or ramen, yogurt, etc. My daughter shops there often and heats up meals and snacks in her microwave. I believe Panther Funds are accepted there.</p>