<p>Those are some good ideas for saving – I was surprised by the pdf on the BamaDining site (creative ways to use meal plan) that encourages getting enough fruit, cereal, milk for a few days and taking it back to the dorm – ah, the benefits of the all-you-care-to-eat meal plan! D has a designated amount of $$ per semester with her meal plan (essentially, dining debit) and unfortunately, she is somewhat limited, since the cost per meal can get rather steep, depending on the venue. BamaDining All Access will be great for my S.</p>
<p>Seatide mentioned that there would be incentives at the beginning of the year to get or upgrade a meal plan. Does anybody remember what incentives they had at the beginning of this year? (I know in previous years they had a “wheel” to turn where you could “win” an upgrade but with the freshman required to have the all access plan starting this year, I don’t know what they might have offered to the upperclassmen.) If we choose the lowest meal plan offered and pay for it before school starts and then wait for incentives, does anyone know how payment would work then? Would my student have to pay the upgrade right away or would it be “charged” to us on our bill? If there are “incentives” to upgrade, my feeling is might as well wait to see what they are before commiting to a larger plan.</p>
<p>i would not wait for the incentives. we tried that i year two and it seemed to take longer than we expected. i finally caved and bought the meal plan, and then a couple days later they offered the incentives.</p>
<p>i think the incentives were a few free meals (maybe 5) and a coupon book.</p>
<p>I can go a few weeks without eating at the dining halls, so the incentives always seemed to come quick. There are occasionally some promotions for upgrading, but there are more for those who didn’t previously sign up for a meal plan. One of my friends negotiated a gift of 2 coupon books and 10 free meal certificates in return for signing up for the 160 meal plan.</p>
<p>Pro Tip: if a student signs up for a meal plan after they confirm their schedule, they have until September or October to pay for it, November if you include the credit card grace period.</p>
<p>Love the term “Pro-Tip”…that’s precisely what that was, Sea_Tide!</p>
<p>From looking at the campus map, Burke Dining Hall seems a little “off the beaten path”, for a freshman kid, but is that really not the case? If a student has a class in the quad area, is it actually easier to get to than Ferg. Center?</p>
<p>The closeness of Burke depends on what side of the quad one has classes. In reality, Bryant is the closest to Nott Hall (Honors Classes), Lloyd Hall (a variety of classes) and is about 75 feet away from Gordon Palmer Hall (math and psychology classes). Burke and Fresh Foods are roughly equidistant from that side of the quad and Lakeside is a 2-3 minute walk beyond that. From the South Side of the quad (Business, Education, and English), Fresh Foods is closer.</p>
<p>Unlike many students, I look at the menus for each dining hall and decide where to go based on what I want to eat that day as there are some main courses I won’t eat and the salad bar, pizza, etc. is much the same everywhere, though Bryant has higher quality pizza and deli meats.</p>