<p>So I was reading the housing plans for dorm rooms and I read that each students who gets a dorm receives $1,400 dine in dollars. I was just wondering, realistically how long this can last the student?</p>
<p>It lasted me all last year, and I had $200 left over. As long as you make use of the buffets (J2 and Kinsolving) occasionally and don’t spend $7+ on every meal, you’ll be fine. I should also say that I bought my own cereal to eat in my room every morning.</p>
<p>I ate a burrito and chocolate milk every weekday morning and ate maybe 60% of my meals in the buffets, 25% at the other venues (mainly JCL) and 15% out (mainly Wendy’s <em>checks blood pressure</em>). The pre-paid housing budget lasted me up until a few weeks before Summer but that was after adding about $400 on top of the 200 original Bevo Bucks and using my credit card for the other places off campus. This is coming from someone who absolutely never skips a meal (except for breakfast on the weekends). I would say that most people come up a bit short at the end of the year though.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, $1400 dine-in dollars + $200 from Bevo Bucks should take most people up to at least April. In November, you should be floating somewhere around $750 dine-in remaining and a lot of people start to budget themselves from that mid-year checkpoint.</p>
<p>I blew through my $300 Bevo Bucks first semester and have around $750 of my Dine-In Dollars left. I was very unwise in my spending and ate off campus a lot during the first few weeks and I eat the majority of my meals at JCL because I’m too impatient to wait in the lines at J2. If I could do it all over again and manage my money wisely then I would think that the $1400 Dine-In Dollars are enough but I would think one would need to reload about $100+ Bevo Bucks at some point in time during the semester because those fly by (thank you very much Hoa Hoa, Chipotle, Madam Maam’s, Taco Cabana, Zen).</p>
<p>Mine lasted all of freshman year and the first summer session. My best friend blew through hers in one semester, though. I ate at Kinsolving A LOT and if my parents drove me back after break I’d bring a bunch of drinks and snacks and microwave stuff with me.</p>