<p>I would appreciate some advice regarding dining plans. Since BU is so expensive already, I’d like to cut costs as much as possible, so I want an economical dining plan.
I eat a tiny breakfast (just some fruit and a granola bar I can go out and buy myself), so basically I only need two meals a day. On weekends and holidays, I’ll probably be eating out/back in california visiting friends & family).
So, taking into account both money and necessity, which dining plan sounds best for me? I’m thinking the 250 plan myself…
thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Actually, probably 330 :)</p>
<p>2 meals a day in the dining hall?</p>
<p>then the 14+ plan. plus the food in the gsu is not cheap ... not at all.</p>
<p>with the 250 plan you can't have 2 meals a day but you will have the gsu & whatnot.</p>
<p>i have the 14+ plan & like it a lot. it fits.</p>
<p>wow, surprisingly the prices for the 14+, 9+, 330, and 250 plans are all the same ($3850), but clearly the 14+ is the better deal.
thanks for helping me see that.. lol</p>
<p>you're welcome!</p>
<p>most people get the 14+ plan ... and if it doesn't work it's easy to change your plan during the first 6 weeks of the semester or so.</p>
<p>and the food isn't bad [exception: saturday & sunday when the full time dining hall staff are off & students fill in for the most part] so that is a definite plus</p>
<p>You can change at any time so it's not a big deal what you choose at the start. Some parts carry over - I think the points do - from fall to spring (but not to the next year). </p>
<p>If you want to cut costs in the future, you try to get into either apartment style housing, where you don't need a meal plan, or live off campus.</p>
<p>In a regular dorm room, BU lets you have only an authorized appliance thing called a microfridge, which is actually a compact fridge / freezer with a microwave on top. You rent it. You can use Convenience Points to buy stuff at the BU owned convenience stores. (You or your parents buy Convenience Points; you are given only $20.) The only advantage is you use your Terrier ID card to buy. There are markets around, including an Asian supermarket (Super 88) with a fantastic food court.</p>
<p>each plan comes with a certain number of dining points. these can be used at the George Sherman Union (GSU) food court, at LateNite, at special on-campus cafes (CAS cafe, SMG starbucks, SCI science building cafe, etc), and at BU vending machines.</p>
<p>the GSU has places like jamba juice, starbucks, panda express (chinese food), caprito burrito, sandwich shops, and many other restaurants.</p>
<p>LateNite is what the BU dining halls are called each night after regular dinner time is over. dinner stops at 8 pm, and latenite starts at about 8:30. they serve chicken strips, fries, chicken wings, quesadillas, mozzarella sticks, sushi, smoothies, ben and jerry's ice cream, and many other foods.</p>
<p>unless you're on the 330 or 250 plan, dining points do NOT carry over from semester to semester. however, for all plans, at the end of the semester, if u still have dining points left, u will be refunded 50% of it to your credit account (or whatever pays for your BU tuition). so it's sorta like getting it refunded in real cash.</p>
<p>details:
<a href="http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/faqs/result.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/faqs/result.php</a>
<a href="http://www.bu.edu/housing/dining/plans/plansandrates2007-2008.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.bu.edu/housing/dining/plans/plansandrates2007-2008.html</a></p>
<p>Aesop's Bagels at the GSU are really, really good.</p>
<p>I'd choose 330 over 14 plus simply because if you don't eat at the dining hall 2 times a day, each week, it goes to waste. Anyways, I started on 14-plus only to realize that I wasn't eating in the dining hall 2 times a day, so I dropped to 330. But now I'm on the 250 because I don't eat in the dining hall very often. Choose what you think you want for now because you can always change your dining plan.</p>
<p>i take back what i said before: "unless you're on the 330 or 250 plan, dining points do NOT carry over from semester to semester."</p>
<p>i think they do for 14+ and 9+. i'm not sure about unlimited.</p>
<p>and by semester to semester, i mean they carry over from fall to spring. they do not carry over from year to year, meaning spring to fall of the next academic year.</p>
<p>also, that first link i posted isn't really taking u to where i expected.</p>
<p>go to: <a href="http://www.bu.edu/housing/%5B/url%5D">http://www.bu.edu/housing/</a></p>
<p>and under "dining", click FAQs.</p>
<p>Remember, you can change your plan at any time. Lots of people sign up for a heavy load of meals and then switch to one with more dining points. The advantage of an unlimited plan is that you can swipe in at any time for a snack or whatever without worrying about the cost. That is not a bad thing unless you are without will power or are worried about putting on weight.</p>
<p>dining points do carry over from 2st to 2nd semester on the unlimited, but not from academic year to the next</p>