Hi I will be attending OSU from fall this year, and I need help selecting a meal plan. Please help regarding this matter.\
My son was a freshman last year and started with Scarlet 14. 2nd semester he had scarlet 14 but decided he could do Gray 10 but he was already past the date to change. He has asked for Gray 10 for this upcoming year. I felt like Scarlet 14 was a great way to start with enough flexibility. After using it for a semester you can always change second semester.
My daughter had Gray 10 freshman year and it was more than enough. If you don’t like your plan, you can change it within the first two weeks…
@bhs1978 and @new2osu - Scarlet 14 is $2,258 (and includes $350 in dining dollars/BuckID) and traditional Unlimited 21 is $1,850 (and includes $100 in dining dollars). Is my math off - if D gets Traditional 21 and we gave her $250 cash, wouldn’t that still be $158 cheaper than Scarlet 14? Also is this pricing a per semester charge?
@momfactfinder One thing that I noted was different between Scarlet 15 and Unlimited is that Unlimited offers no exchanges of an all-you-can-eat meal for a cafe type meal while Scarlet 14 does. So every meal that your D doesn’t eat at one of the traditions dining halls will come out of dining dollars and she/you will essentially be paying twice for that meal. And yes, it is a per semester pricing charge.
We signed my son up for Scarlet 14 and will re-evaluate for second semester.
Scarlet 14 offers the most flexibility and my son was glad he selected that during his freshman year. It costs a bit more, but it’s worth it. If you don’t like that plan you will have a short window to switch at the start of the year.
As noted unlimited is in fact less expensive however it offers no flexibility. There are no exchange options available with that plan. If your D is OK with eating almost always at traditions it is a good value. However my son loved the flexibility with more variety of options with the Scarlet 14 plan. This year he will be doing gray 10.
what are the disadvantages of choosing Unlimited? As it costs lest, i am more inclined towards it. Moreover, I will just have three meals a day, i dont care about other cafes and bars, etc…
If you don,t care about other cafés and bars then the unlimited option would be a great choice for you. You will have a choice of three traditions locations to eat. My son and most of his friends liked the traditions and went there a lot but they liked to go other places several times a week also (like mirror lake creamery, sloopys, Pad, grab and go at the market place) these options will be unavailable to unlimited as there are no exchange options. You can always use dining dollars at these locations but if you like lots of variety the exchange programs are more flexible without worrying about your dining dollars as much.
Another thought and definitely not trying to talk you out of unlimited. Just want you to make an informed decision. If all of your friends are going to a place on exchange you will either be left out or you will very quickly go through your dining dollars. As others have stated you have a short window to change your plan. Or you can change at semester as the total given is actually total for the year however you pay by semester. Good luck to all. My son LOVES OSU.
My S selected unlimited. Here was our thinking— hope it is not off base. Unlimited is --Unlimited visits-- If Scarlett only allows 14 that equates to 2 meals a day. I know there will be days he will not want to eat 3/day in traditions, or go with stuff in his room etc, but if even if you ate 3x for 1/4 the semester, I think you are ahead. Otherwise you are using dining dollars on Scarlett anyway correct?
And the traditional visit exchange is for $8 at retail outlets and $5 at C-Stores (w/ a discount), so if you do exceed that amount in a purchase, is it coming from Dining dollars? I honestly don’t know how much food costs on campus, but if that is the case, you will go through dining dollars and have to add on any plan.
Finally, if I add $150 Buckeye Cash to match the other plans, that would bring the actual cost to $2000 for an Unlimited plan. The difference from that scenario to Scarlett 14 is -$208. But the difference in Dining dollars is only $100 less. Somehow i think we are coming out ahead with Unlimited if he sticks to traditions as much as possible.
Are we completely off on this thinking?? We are new to this, so any input would help!
@Bridger4 yes if your son sticks to traditions for almost all meals you will likely come out ahead. However, I think there will be many times where friends are eating someplace else and he will want to forego traditions to eat with his friends. I’m not sure there is any easy way to predict in advance whether the number of times he foregoes traditions is going to be enough to make it so that you actually pay more in the end by selecting traditions due to the absence of the exchange feature.
I previously posted that the charges noted in the dining plans overview were per semester. I believe that was wrong, although honestly every place that I see a price referenced on the OSU website it does not clarify one way or the other whether it is for the semester or full year.
@Bridger4 - I looked online at the cafe menu prices and it does seem like $8 is a realistic cost for a cafe meal. From my math, it looks like if you can convince your D or S to eat 1/3 or fewer of her/his meals at a cafe, Unlimited is cheaper (even after you pay the additional $1,644 for 1/3 cafe meals). If a little bit more than 1/3 of meals are eaten at a cafe, Scarlet 14 becomes the cheaper option. Seems that it all comes down to something completely unknown to us right now…where will your kiddo’s college friends be eating?
I contacted Ohio State dining about whether the costs noted on the website are per semester or per year and they confirmed they are per semester. I suggested they should make that more obvious on the website.
@adlgel - thanks for getting the clarification! They really do need to put that info on their website…
Adlgel pretty much answered everything spot on. I would just add that the new plan allows your dining dollars to roll over semester to semester which is really nice. The tradition visits are obviously weekly and expire every Sunday at midnight.