<p>At Caltech, absolutely not... the meal plan is about $6 for lunch at the cafeteria, while the food truck on campus sells better tasting food for $4. For dinner, the meal plan is about $13, and the food it terrible, while you could eat out with MUCH better food for $10, or cook your own for far less. </p>
<p>It is sad when I can literally eat out every night and still save money over the board plan.</p>
<p>here's a bit about northwestern's meal plans. You're better off paying out of pocket for your meals rather than getting a meal plan. Unfortunately, all sstudents living on campus are required to have meal plan. </p>
<p>Save money by getting a meal plan? Is that a joke?</p>
<p>The school I'm going to in the fall charges about $5.50 a meal. There are just a few different zones (pizza, chicken, grill, cafeteria food) with the same menu for lunch and dinner (and there is only 1 breakfast zone). It is a complete rip off. Whether you get a meal (chicken strips, fries, drink) or an apple, it costs $5.50.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Cheap, yes. Healthy, I doubt it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Why would you say that? There are a lot of variations you can do with those three foods. You definitely cover the food groups.</p>
<p>There are definitely two sides to this argument. Are most meal plans overpriced? Yes. At my school freshman year required all freshmen to eat in a dining hall that had an all-you-can-eat style costing $13.50 per meal and if you didn't use it 7 out of 9 (dinners and two brunches on weekends), it would disappear. </p>
<p>After freshman year, however, we were given not a number of meals per week but a number of points per semester with 1 point = 1 dollar. Since both students and the general public paid the same price, except if you used points you don't pay taxes. </p>
<p>So look into your schools program and see which one benefits you the most.</p>
<p>My brother goes to Loyola and a good friend goes to Providence...both of the meal plans are a JOKE with how much of a rip-off they are. At P.C. they force you to buy a meal plan unless you're off-campus or live in an on-campus apartment. You pay like $7 per meal which are converted to tickets sort of to eat in the all-you-can-eat dining hall...except NOBODY ever uses all their meals . From what I've heard, if you're not required to buy a meal plan, don't.</p>
<p>I heard sometime similar about PC from one of my sister's friends who goes there...I have a friend at Boston College too and supposedly its a huge rip off -- you HAVE to purchase $2000 worth of credit per semester, and whatever is leftover they keep as a "theft deposit" or something like that...does anyone know why this is mandatory??</p>
<p>If I could go back I would not have gotten the meal plan. The food was usually very poor quality and it was $7 or $8 depending on the time of day. I would much rather get a nice meal at a fast food place for cheaper.</p>
<p>In general, No</p>
<p>You'll really miss the opportunity to get to know your classmates if you decline the mealplan. This is worth a lot more than the few bucks you might save.</p>
<p>OP: I think it really depends on your school. There are also negative and positive aspects to meal plans. For my school, my meal plan is actually pretty nice and the food is decent (at some locations lol). I pay around $5.50 per meal if I do eat up all 17 meals a week. I'm planning on starting my meal plan with the 17 meals/wk one, and then changing it lower if I keep losing my meals. We also have a point system, like HiWei's school, but we call ours 'dinning dollars'. I'll get $150 DD per semester to use towards vending machines and the like. </p>
<p>Anyways, GL.</p>
<p>Also to the OP:
It really does depend on your school. Personally, I would definitely just opt for the meal plan. Eating out may equate to "better food," but cooking can be a tad time consuming sometimes. Just going to a dining hall saves me time + I don't have to cook. Also, suppose you want to take a meal with your friends who are on the meal plan...best case scenario you'd have to pay the non-meal plan price which is a bit inflated at my school anyway. </p>
<p>Does it save money? That's up for debate. You COULD definitely manipulate your expenses to where you would be spending less, but I am over 95% sure if we gave time and convenience monetary values, you'd probably be better off with the meal plan. And at many schools, the food is not half bad!</p>
<p>But, not going to lie, I am on 21 meals a week and I don't use every single one, especially on weekends. If that really bothers you, then maybe go for a ~14 meal plan. But I am definitely biased: I love dining hall food!</p>
<p>I guess this is really just personal preference, but if possible i think i will opt out of the meal plan. i've heard its importnt to be oncampus for the social aspect of school and stuff, so i dont want to move off in my first year. but if i have to get the meal plan, then i will just do it, but its not worth moving off cmapus for i dont think.</p>
<p>don't save money in absolute terms -- you definitely save time though (don't have to prepare anything).</p>
<p>It depends on the school, the cost of living in the surrounding community and whether your child cooks or not. In our experience, when child #1 moved to an apartment the board portion doubled due to so many items purchased separately, from drinks on campus ($1.50 apiece), snacks, and full meals. In theory, it should be less expensive to prepare one's own food, but for students who arrive on campus in the morning and don't go back home until late at night, and forget to shop or don't have time to prepare two meals to bring along with them to school every day, the costs of prepared food is enormous.</p>
<p>
[quote]
don't save money in absolute terms -- you definitely save time though (don't have to prepare anything).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Opportunity cost ;)</p>
<p>You want to get the school's meal plan if you are in a dorm; pop tarts and microwaveable foods all the time would give you kidney failure by the end of freshman year.</p>
<p>If you live in an apartment with a stove and an oven, yeah of course don't get the meal plan.</p>
<p>oh sorry, i am a little biased though, UCLA topped Cornell's cafeteria food this year...</p>
<p>At Tulane? Unequivocal RIPOFF.</p>
<p>Not only do they make all freshmen and sophomores go on an unlimited meal plan ($1500), the cafeteria food is terrible and the cafeteria workers secretly deal drugs on the side. It's also crowded, as they built one cafeteria that coud at most fit 400 people for a campus of 10,000. Also, if you wipe any of the glasses/plates/cutlery with a napkin, brown stuff comes off. </p>
<p>The corner market was overpriced and the nearest grocery store within walking distance was a Whole Foods. And for a city obsessed with its food, takeout in New Orleans was also muy expensive. (If you lived in Wall, however, you had kitchens that were cleaned by staff regularly and people actually had food parties in there all the time.)</p>
<p>I actually lost weight at Tulane from not eating the food there. I recommend getting a large fridge, a kitchen, and a car to the SuperWalmart/Sav-A-Center to eat healthily at Tulane. Unfortunately, freshmen can only have the fridge and maybe the kitchen if they get into Wall.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and the cafeteria workers secretly deal drugs on the side.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>0_o </p>
<p>Personally I think anything less than unlimited is a ripoff -- well at least for me where all the plans for first years are the same in cost and "scaling down" doesn't seem to be worth it.</p>