<p>thanks. Not to far a walk. Can you explain the difference b/t a flex account and dining dollars? Sounds like Flex can be used to purchase food on campus too which seems to make dining dollars redundant.</p>
<p>With dining dollars, you don't have to pay the egregious 8.75% NYS tax on certain foods, as you would with flex. Plus, most of the food services people just assume you're using dining dollars, and it may be inconvenient to have to yell "flex!" at them or wait for them to reswipe your card if they don't ask what you're using first. Also, there are always deals which allow you to get free dining dollars along with meal plans. Most people on campus have both flex and dining dollars, and will only use flex to buy food when their dining dollars run out.</p>
<p>As a freshman, you don't really use upperclass dining dollars anyway. You have to say "first year" to the food services people, as your "dining dollars" are on a separate freshman account (linked to your meal plan), which do not roll over into sophomore year (so use them all up!)</p>
<p>i see, thank you</p>
<p>what do you think about hartley as a dorm for first years?</p>
<p>personally, i have never lived there but got a pretty bad impression of it when i visited as a pre-frosh. Being at columbia I hear from people who have lived there that they enjoyed it alot...i feel though that you will need to make alot more of an effort to go out and get to know people other than the ones in your suite. Also, take the LLC bullsh-t with a grain of salt because most of the upperclassmen there are sophomores who just wanted singles. From what I hear you dont do any more activities than any other freshman dorm elsewhere.</p>