Dining Plan

<p>Please explain the dining plan to me and in even simpler terms than used below. :(
Which plan would you recommend from these two choices?</p>

<p>"Dining Plan – Entering first-year students will be pre-assigned to the SmartChoice20 plan for fall term. Under this plan students receive 20 meals per week and $75 flex dollars to use fall term. First-year students are allowed to switch to the new BlockChoice180 plan for fall term if they so choose. The BlockChoice180 plan has the same total cost and amount of flex dollars, but rather than 20 meals per week it instead offers 180 meals to be used at any time (one per meal period) over the course of the entire term."</p>

<p>Thank you,
Mom of '16</p>

<p>with the smartchoice20 plan, you get 20 meal swipes per week and $75 of dba.</p>

<p>i’ll explain that a bit better.</p>

<p>there’s 10 weeks in the term (without including orientation). you get 20 swipes for each week that can be used at foco (class of 1953 commons), the hop (courtyard cafe), collis, or novack. when you use a swipe at anywhere other than foco, the swipe has a dollar amount attached to it (around $6.50 for breakfast, $7.75 for lunch, and $10.00 for dinner). so when you go to collis (novack and the hop included), you can spend up to that amount without using dba.</p>

<p>don’t get the blockchoice180 plan. it’s a waste of money. you get 20 less meals, spend the same amount of money, and there’s not anymore flexibility, though that’s the entire idea of having a block plan. </p>

<p>after your child’s first term, ask him/her about how often he/she ate at foco. if it’s not that often, look at changing to the smartchoice5 plan. all other plans are a waste of money (some super geniuses in my class figured that out and posted it on facebook).</p>

<p>Thank you for the detailed (and more understandable) response. The advice on how to not waste money is just what I needed. :)</p>