<p>so the general consensus around here seems to be
that the $510 is too low amount for dining dollars. Verify?</p>
<p>i know they have the fast pass option, and since i'm likely to be eating fruits and veggies more often than carl's jr, i'm thinking the fast pass would be nicer to just stop by for a salad or something anytime (so i don't have to resort to popcorn and oatmeal for snacks), and buy snacks elsewhere w/discretionary moneys.</p>
<p>how much discretionary money do most people tend to take out in addition to the $510, so i can decide?</p>
<p>My S was on the plan you have to be on for Pardee. He found it adequate for his needs. He tends to sleep as late as possible & eat lunch & dinner. He didn't spend much on food above & beyond that which he already paid for on the meal plan. His friend bought the Trojan plan & always had tons of money at the end that all his buddies helped spend on junk food at the end of each term. The friend was a much heavier eater than my S, which is why his folks splurged for the more expensive plan.
I'd suggest you consider starting with the recommended plan--you have a few days after the term begins to adjust if you choose to. 2nd semester, you can switch plans if you choose as well. Haven't heard many who went with the FastPass option because many want the flexibility of eating away from the dining halls from time to time (my S among them).</p>
<p>How many dining dollars does the Trojan Plan give anyways? How many dollars would be spent on an average day? Let's say I have the regular 3 meals a day, coffee, and a snack. Or if this is easier, how much does it cost to eat at EVK or parkside? Would it be cheaper if I spent my own money on other resturants with the Cardinal Plan instead of paying 400 more a semester for dining dollars?</p>
<p>More info about the mealplans are at the usc.edu website, under residential housing. My impression is that many college students do NOT eat 3 meals/day and especially are not interested in that many meals in the dining hall. If you eat at the dining hall, meals are about $10 apiece, I believe. If you eat elsewhere (Wolfgang Pucks, a soup place, burger place or elsewhere on campus), prices vary considerably. I believe my son's friend liked the Trojan plan because he had it for both semesters.<br>
My S is not a huge eater & thought it was a big rip-off. He said the Cardinal or Gold plan had more than met his needs. As I said, he never woke in time for breakfast & liked having granola bars & other snacks in his room, as well as pizza & trips to places just off campus or Chinatown or Japan Town to eat, especially on weekends.
You know yourself best and what you're like. Are you really a 3-square-meals/day every day kind of person? Would you be able to eat dorm food every day, every meal? If so, it might make sense for you to try the plan that converts all your dining dollars to allow you to eat unlimited meals in the dining halls. The Cardinal and Gold plans work well for MOST students, which is why that's the one that the school requires.</p>
<p>makkuroi - Eck don't get the fast plan, you will REGRET it. Sometimes you just want to grab something from tro gro in the wee hours of the night (they also have fruit) and EVK closes @ 10. Most people ahve bunch of meals left over in the end which means you will have more than enough meals anyhow (I had 20-30 left, my roommate ~50, my friend's friend 70+ meals left)</p>
<p>If you don't want to use few hundred more dollars for a trojan plan, you'll prob find somebody with it... Make friends with them and use their money, they can't finish it off by themselves.</p>
<p>Trojan plan's around 2600 or 2800, i'm not sure.</p>
<p>well i guess most people really seem to hate the fastpass, hm. the social aspect of wanting to eat with my friends is a good point towards the dining dollars. New is right by EVK, but i don't know how often most people tend to stop by the dorm during the day/between classes... ?</p>
<p>of course, i could always latch onto a few pals with trojan, but who wants to be a leech the whole time (instead of just at the end of the semester), haha</p>
<p>idunno, i'm just really into getting the proper nutrition, with lots of fruits and veggies. i don't like fast food much, too health-oriented.</p>
<p>there's like a september 7th deadline to change plans, right? how does that work with the whole dining plan thing. if i start with cardinal, can i spend dining dollars and then switch to the fast pass without a penalty, or what?</p>
<p>It seems like everyone is bashing the fastpass plan, but it doesn't sound so bad. Next year it can be used at both parkside and EVK, so it's not like you only have one place to eat at. Plus, it's 500 bucks cheaper than the trojan plan, so if I wanted to eat somewhere other than EVK or parkside, it certainly wouldn't be too bad. I sure eat a lot more than ten meals a week, too. I am the type of person who would like to be able to go in and get one or two things without feeling guilty that I spent a whole meal on an apple. It seems like the unlimited plan may be the one for me.</p>
<p>"well i guess most people really seem to hate the fastpass, hm. the social aspect of wanting to eat with my friends is a good point towards the dining dollars. New is right by EVK, but i don't know how often most people tend to stop by the dorm during the day/between classes... "</p>
<p>Unlike some others, my daughter really liked the Fastpass. That way you can stop in EVK anytime you want, even if it's just to grab an apple or a frozen yogurt or have a salad. There were a few times she said she'd already eaten but a friend asked her along and she went back into EVK just to hang out. :)She didn't have to worry about keeping tabs on her meal count or dining dollars, and she didn't want to pay $10 if she just wanted to eat something light at EVK. Now that eating dinner at Parkside is part of the Cardinal Fastpass plan, it's an even better deal.</p>
<p>We kept some extra "spending money" on her Spirit Card so when she felt like going to Carl's or Tro Gro or Ground Zero (you can get ice cream there for $1, great deal), she used that money. We felt like that was a better deal financially than running out of dining dollars on Cardinal, as seemed to happen to some of her friends. (And yes, others with Trojan had <em>tons</em> of dining dollars left and treated their friends to Upstairs Commons at the end of the semester...)</p>
<p>It really depends on the individual and how you think you're likely to eat... She went to breakfast fairly often, for example, although there were days she just had a Pop-Tart in her dorm room (grin).</p>
<p>My daughter started with Fast Pass -- you can change without penalty in the first couple weeks. She calendared the "change by" date in case she didn't like that plan but never considered changing.</p>
<p>You have until the stated deadline (somewhere within the first week or two of the term) to switch & then you need to stay with whatever your plan is until the end of the semester. You can call the dining hall or residence hall office to find out about switching a few days into the term so you know what your options are (my S was satisfied with this cardinal/gold plan & stuck with it all year).
When I went to school--back in the 70s, we didn't have these choices and EVERYONE just had the same meal plan & ate all our meals in the dining hall or sometimes if we were very adventurous in the dining hall of one of our friends.
If you really think you'll be happy ONLY eating in the dining halls & eat more than 10 meals/week + $510, the fastpass plan is a savings. If your friends always want to eat away from the dining hall and it will mean that you'll have to keep paying out of pocket to keep them company, it can be a strain.</p>
<p>I personally don't know anyone who had the Fastpass option, and everyone I knew who was on Cardinal/Gold had at least 20 meals left over. Some had around 50. Still, Fastpass with a few hundred bucks of discretionary doesn't sound bad at all.</p>
<p>A side note: this semester, my friends with Trojan realized how much money they had left over last semester and spent it all on, say, tips for the pizza delivery boy. In April, they ran out of money and had to bum meals off those with Cardinal/Gold. Personally, I didn't buy cases of water and energy drinks like last semester, but I still ended up with only $8 left at the end of the year. My point: Cardinal and Gold by themselves isn't lacking at all. If you're a late night snacker, consider adding discretionary. If you're a heavy eater, try the Fastpass with some discresh. If you're both, add more discresh. The $2800 of dining dollars on Trojan eventually go to waste.</p>
<p>so how would you guys rate the food tastewise... 1-10, 10 being "it's incredible - i could eat it for every day for four years and never get sick of it" and 1 being "it's terrible - i can barely stand eating on campus"?</p>
<p>I think you'd have to break that down. In the beginning, I think folks like the food much better than after they've had it for weeks/months. Also, are you talking about just the dining halls or ALL food on campus? </p>
<p>My S said it was a rip-off & got boring, but that was about the worst he said. I told him to just consider it a fixed cost associated with housing. I'll have to ask S if he helped his buddies on the Trojan Plan use up their $$ this semester too.</p>
<p>i'm not as familiar with the options as i'd like to be... but the quality of the food both in the dining halls and around campus is of particular interest. i'm a transfer, and my current school is always being praised for having the best college food in the united states and so on - just curious how the food at usc compares when it comes to selection and taste for the different meal plans.</p>
<p>The dining hall food is the same no matter if you go for the FastPass Plan or the Cardinal/Gold Plan. The advantage of the latter plan is you can choose to eat at various other places on campus with $510 in "discretionary dollars" to be spent on food. The other plan allows you to eat as often as you like--heck you can go in & out 6+ times in a day if you'd like (as long as the dining halls are open) but ONLY in the dining hall. If you want to eat anywhere else with that plan, you have to pay out of your own pocket.</p>
<p>Under thr Trojan plan, you have all "discretionary money" to eat at pretty much anywhere on campus. It gives you the most variety and options but is the costliest & many folks find the cost and amount left to spend at the end of the semester excessive.</p>
<p>One of the things I've read and heard about for the Cardinal/Gold plans that is nice is being able to socialize at an eatery away from the dining halls without having to spend money (just use already budgeted discretionary money that came with the meal plan). It adds some variety over the dining hall fare.</p>
<p>Dining halls: 6.5. It's definitely not as bad as everyone says. I still enjoyed eating at EVK at the end of the year, but some people can't stand the repetitiveness.</p>
<p>Other places (Wok Crazy, La Salsa, etc): 9. Dude, I could eat at Cafe '84 and Commons for the rest of my life. :)</p>