<p>Do I need FLEX points? Can I add them later? How many do I need?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Oh, and what meal plan freshman is the best... if you can add stuff on later, is it best just to do the cheapest?</p>
<p>If you can be somewhat faithful to the board plan, the cheapest set of food points is more than enough. I'd go with that, and add more if you feel yourself running out.</p>
<p>Flex is good for laundry...how many you need depends on what else you're going to spend them on. I bought some of my books on FLEX so that took a big chunk out of them.</p>
<p>As for the meal plan, I've heard that most people go for plan G because they can add on later.</p>
<p>Flex is incredibly useful, as it's usable anywhere on campus (washing machines, vending machines, all stores, copies are cheaper with it (7 cents instead of 10?)), entirely refundable upon closing the account, and all the money stays with you as long as you have your DukeCard. You can deposit at any time. The Card Office is never closed, so you can open one at any time. You don't have to deposit to open an account, and it's free to open, so go ahead and open. You can deposit money electronically like by charging Flex to bursar, but you can't open an account online, so it's good to already have open and available for your use. 97% of undergrads have Flex accounts at any given time.</p>
<p>All in all, it's a good good option to have, especially to minimize carrying cash around on campus. Sure, you'll need cash going off campus, but if you do lose your card or it gets stolen, you can just call up the card office to get it shut off and avoid losing any money besides the $10 it takes to get a new card (which can also be charged to bursar, haha!)</p>
<p>I'm looking at things, and I'd say FLEX seems extremely handy, though optional. </p>
<p>I really think the plans don't matter, as the difference between the G and I plans is only $200 something dollars of dining points, which means you could just add the extra points later. Even if you did get the expensive I plan and ended up not using the extra points, they would just roll over to next semesters points. So it's cool either way.</p>
<p>Yeah-</p>
<p>Flex is really, really handy-- I recommend putting SOME on, but it doesn't have to be a lot. It's $1 per laundry machine, you can do that on flex, or you can find a change machine (I think there's just one on East) and get quarters... not to mention little sundry items which you may need at a moment's notice -- I've definitely needed to pick up alleve or tissues or pens or something like that and had to use Flex.</p>
<p>Food points-- freshman year I got the middle plan which was fine first semester, and I added second semester. You're always going to need Flex for lunch, pretty much, not to mention dinner on the weekends unless you go off campus and use cash. It rolls over to second semester.</p>