<p>Is a 200 block meal plan + 50 dining dollars sufficient?
For one semester.
Or is that too little?</p>
<p>There's also 21 meals/week, 15 meals/week + 100 dining dollars, 10 meals/week + 175 dining dollars..
I think 21 meals is too much for me.
I could do 15 meals? But you can only eat once in a time frame (if you ate a late lunch at 4, you can't eat again that day, I thinK?). Here's what it says - "On this plan, your meals are budgeted into 'per week sets'. You may use up to 3 meals per day, one per meal period. Meal periods are defined on the Meal Plan FAQs tab."</p>
<p>As for block meals... "You can eat as many meals as you wish in a given day; there are no meal period restrictions with Block Plans. You can also swipe a friend with your Block Plan!"</p>
<p>Which would be the better value? Should I try to count how many days and meals I'd eat a day... does 200 seem not enough?</p>
<p>It seems most kids you ask at any school will tell you to get the smallest plan possible and with that, the plan with the least meals swipes and the most “x-dollars” available. </p>
<p>When we looked up how much each meal swipe was, it always turned out to be more than the kids would spend if they skipped the meal at the dining hall and grabbed a meal elsewhere. And they will get sick of dining hall food, get up too late for breakfast and have other plans for dinner.</p>
<p>Do you normally eat 3 meals/day? If so, 21 meals works. We had our kids on the biggest meal plan they offered first semester freshman year so they could figure out what worked best for them. They could carry over unused dining dollars (or add more if needed). Our oldest switched to the step down from the biggest second semester and got more dining dollars. He ran out of dining dollars with about a month and a half left to go and ended up back on the big plan after that. It is hard to know how you will use the plan going into college.</p>
<p>Wow - I got both my kids the maximum meal plan and never considered anything but. There is no circumstance in which I’d ever want them worried about spending money for food, or in which I’d want them not having access to a full meal.</p>
<p>When S1 went to college, we got him the unlimited meal plan with $300 Dining Dollars per semester.</p>
<p>Since his campus has a bunch of off-campus hangouts that sing the sirens’ song, kids quickly “tire” of eating on campus. That meal plan turned out to be a waste.</p>
<p>The next year, we went a level down, but he still had leftover meals.</p>
<p>It quickly got to the point where he was never eating in the halls on the weekends and rarely eating there more than once a day during the school week.</p>
<p>He generally always went thru his Dining Dollars ($600 per year) by going to the on-campus Starbucks, Subway, Chick Fil A…that sort of thing. </p>
<p>You need to figure out how you’ll eat. Are you the type to schedule time in the morning to sit and eat breakfast in a dining hall? Or are you likely to just grab a bite in your room from the little fridge? </p>
<p>Is your school in a rural area with few off campus places to eat?</p>
<p>I would definitely get a block plan if you are restricted to one swipe per meal period-- you will keep odd hours as a college student between classes, club meetings, and your various activities. You don’t want to have to miss dinner because you ate a late lunch, sometimes your schedule may work out that you’ll only get all three meals in if you eat one of them at an odd hour-- ie cramming lunch and dinner in between a 12-3 and 7-9 class, or something.</p>
<p>As for how many meals you need, that depends. I had breakfast foods, snacks, and enough food to make a couple light dinners a week in my dorm… think pasta and jarred spaghetti sauce, canned soup, etc-- stuff easy to make and non-perishable. With that, I had a 15 meal a week meal plan and had more than enough meals. It was tempting to take a meal plan with more “dining dollars” as those could be used in cafes around campus and at various fast food places-- I wanted them for social outings to these places because I didn’t have spending money-- but, depending on your campus, the cafeteria may be your best option for healthy, balanced meals (ie not pizza or chicken nuggets from the campus shop). If that’s true, you may want to lean more toward cafeteria meals to avoid the inevitable weight gain that comes from living off of dining dollars. ;)</p>
<p>It really just depends on how much money you’re going to have to eat out around town with friends, and how much food you’re going to have in your dorm. If you won’t have a lot of other options, you will need those cafeteria meals. For me 15 was more than enough because I always either slept through breakfast or ate a granola bar or bagel from my room, and at least one meal a week I cooked something myself. If I ate EVERY meal in the cafeteria I’d have needed a bigger plan, 15 leaves you short by Sunday.</p>
<p>My son had an apartment type dorm room his first two years at Carnegie Mellon so he always ate breakfast at home. He had the minimal meal plan with the most extra dining dollars. Personally I was happy to go to a school where everyone is forced to have a full meal plan and there’s plenty of socializing in the dining halls because everyone is eating together. Usually there is some sort of grace period where you can change the meal plan if it turns out it isn’t working for you.</p>
<p>My campus is located in Charleston, South Carolina. Food spews out of your ears with all the eateries in town. It’s a city and with a city comes tons and tons of food options. But, they’re not cheap… </p>
<p>If I’m left alone and at home, I live off 2 meals a day easy. I eat a late lunch and dinner. But, I plan to take early classes… so I might do breakfast and late lunch and dinner. I have NO idea… </p>
<p>Mathmom: I believe you have a week to change your meal plan.</p>
<p>Emaheevul07: That’s exactly how my mom & I see it. I eat late lunches naturally. I don’t want to be restricted by meal times when I’m worried about class times! I want to eat whenever, y’know? I’m still leaning toward the block meal plan. </p>
<p>Also - my dorm has full kitchens on every floor I believe. So if I want to make food, I can… I doubt I’ll do often, though…</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids: Like I said before, TONS of off-campus meal options! But they aren’t cheap. We have a chick-fil-a and Starbucks on campus, I know. CFA uses Dining Dollars I think.</p>
<p>Thanks, parents! I’m still pretty sold on the block meal plan. I’ll be going home a few weekends as well due to it being only a two-hour drive away. I’ll want to treat my parents to a lunch or two, though, I’m sure. Block meals seem to be calling me.</p>
<p>Worth looking into if your school is in the city-- will there be anywhere you can buy groceries if you do decide to use the kitchens in your dorm, or if you want to keep cereal bars or something on hand? Where I went to school, if you didn’t have a car your only option was a LOOOOONG bus ride to a grocery store, which was a collossal pain in the you-know-what. We didn’t have any grocery stores downtown, we had one little shop that closed down and then there was nothing. That may affect how you look at things.</p>
<p>D was very happy with fewer meals & some Dining Dollars & some cash for grocery runs, particularly when she figured out she was getting charged $11 a meal for some cereal and milk at breakfast along with a piece of fruit. OTOH, I’ve seen some kids who were big eaters (mostly boys) who really appreciated the plan that let them have 19 meals a week in the dining hall (that campus only had brunch/dinner on Sundays.) </p>
<p>I can’t remember many of the dining halls looking particularly “social” at breakfast at any of the colleges we visited; the kids looked either bleary, in a rush, or highly focused on doing something while eating. I’m pretty sure that some cereal/milk or a yogurt from your dorm room fridge would be about as helpful at much lower cost. (D’s school had a Safeway about 1 mile away, and a convenience store in the next dorm, and a bigger one at the gas station across from campus.)</p>
<p>They won’t be worried if they sign up for a smaller meal plan and you give them the difference in cash. </p>
<p>The problem with maximum meal plans is that the student is pressured to eat in the dining halls as much as possible, but the student’s schedule may make this difficult on some days of the week. There may be long lines at the dining halls at popular times, and dining halls often are not located near classroom buildings. A students who has classes from 11 to 12 and 1 to 2 might not have time for a dining hall lunch, for example. But that student could find some sort of cash snack bar on campus where he could get a sandwich or salad and eat it during that single free hour.</p>
<p>And for less $$ than the meal plan meal would have cost. </p>
<p>If you add up what you are actually paying for all of those meals, it is not a good deal. Dining dollars combined with whatever the school debit program is (if you are worried about them blowing any cash on other things besides food) will keep them fed, happier and for less money than one of those mega meal plans.</p>
<p>It sounds as if you’re probably better off with the smallest plan you can get. These meal plans are designed to cover all the way up to people who eat a LOT. My girls don’t eat that much and the one who’s a veggie ate even less at the dining halls because they didn’t have enough decent veggie options (regardless of what they say up front). You can always supplement by buying food outside of the meal plan including sometimes stuff in your room - like cereal for breakfast, top ramen if you have a place to cook it, microwave things, etc. If you’re like my girls you’ll find that welcome anyway. You’ll just need to be smart about it and not overspend.</p>
<p>If your parents are paying make sure they concur with your plan (the meal plan plus supplemental meals elsewhere).</p>
<p>Start with the middle plan and see how it goes that first semester. That’s what we did. </p>
<p>After seeing how things shook out, we dropped D down to the smallest meal plan. She would eat breakfast in her dorm room (at least she SAID she did, but I wonder if that was for my benefit–I imagine that she was usually running out the door, late, and skipping breakfast). 3 meals a day would be a waste for her. If she ran through the discretionary account, she could always add money to it. Plus there would be times when the kids would eat out.</p>
<p>S1 started first sem. with 15 meals a week…wasn’t enough…had to bump up to unlimited plan.
S2 started first sem. with unlimited…didn’t use it enough…dropped back for second sem. </p>
<p>Just depends on how you like to eat.
S1 ate the dining hall breakfast almost every day.
S2 chose to sleep later and skip breakfast.</p>
<p>It also will depend where you go to school. If you go to a remote school without a lot of other options you will use your meal plan more, not matter how sick of the dining hall you are because there won’t be much else to choose from. If you go to school in a city, there will be a lot more little places to get a coffee and bagel to grab for breakfast, or a sandwich for lunch that will be faster and cheaper than grabbing the same coffee and bagel or sandwich from a dining hall. </p>
<p>It is really up to you. Most schools let you change your plan within the first two weeks, and then once again for the next semester. Start where you think you will be and take it from there.</p>
<p>I agree. One particular college we liked (Colorado College) just had one cafeteria where everyone ate together, IIRC. I thought that was terrific.</p>
<p>^^ I don’t like being forced to do anything so I wouldn’t have liked that. It sounds like it probably results in a lot of wasted money for people who eat a lot less than others (95 pound girl compared to 275 pound football guy). Usually people have different schedules and priorities so it doesn’t seem that there’d be any guarantee to eat with the people they’d want to eat with anyway. Also - people tend to get sick and tired of eating at the same place most of the time.</p>