Freshman wants OUT of food plan..advice?

<p>Most schools seem to require the meal plan for freshmen but when students hit sophomore year they should ask around, check with upperclassmen to find out what options might be out there. For instance, DS's school offers a plan where you buy meals that never expire. You buy xx number of meals and they stay there till you use them. No "money part" no wastage. They only offer this if you live in an apartment style housing situation. They really don't go out of their way to advertise it...the kids seem to find out about it from other students.</p>

<p>My son was able to use his "unspent" anywhere dollars to purchase bottled water that he stashed in his room for next semester with the balance at the end of the semester. My son told me another girl arranged with her food service to use her unspent dollars to purchase whole turkeys which she donated to the local mission. If you child has these mandatory "optional" food dollars and has some left over at the end of the semester that do not carry over, look into practical ways that they can be used.</p>

<p>My son didn't want to "bother" with cases of water and since he waited until the end of the semester there wasn't alot of choices left. Even the good candy bars were gone! At his school freshman have to go with the largest meal plan but can cut down to the next level (14 meals?) a week which is still more then he needs. I think as long as you live in a dorm you have to have a meal plan.</p>

<p>Part of the argument on the schools part for charging so much (I've heard) is that the students are extremely wasteful and will throw away alot of the food they put on their tray. After parents weekend this past fall there was a big poster that recorded how many pounds of food were thrown away.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I wonder if he'll really like living that way, and am interested if anyone else has experience with this.

[/quote]
S was able to go on a very minimal meal plan ($500/term, rolls over) as an upperclassman. Works for him. With the meal plan, he can use those dollars at the University Market as well - for food he can cook in his room (although we are not talking full service food market here, lol).</p>

<p>He is probably equally close to a street with various shops/restaurants as he is to most of the on-campuse meal plan sites.</p>

<p>He says he is getting a bit tired of Chipotle's. But I suppose he'll find another regular haunt.</p>

<p>DD has the least expensive meal plan her school offers. Their plan is completely points based...not a number of meals per week or semester. She has the maximum convenience points and the minimum meal points. Still at the end of the term, she always has extras as what SHE eats doesn't cost a lot of points. She can roll her points over to the next semester in a school year, but not from year to year. Last May, she was helping feed the starving guys who had run out of points. She also stocked up on non-perishable items from the campus convenience store like shampoo, toothpaste, etc. She just stored these things for the summer and it saved her having to purchase them when she arrived this fall. I will say...she is not whining about her food choices...and she can eat off campus at a number of eateries using her dining hall points.</p>

<p>For residents at the school my son attends, it looks like this the minimal meal plan. My son loves the food, so he has no problem with this at all:</p>

<p>Weekly 11 Plus Plan
Eleven meal punches per week, Sunday - Saturday
$400 in Dining Dollars
Cost per semester: $1638</p>

<p>Also, a few times per semester (think it is 3 times per semester) one can double punch, and but you still need to add about $8 to have a nice steak dinner (at least this is my understanding of it).</p>

<p>Once off campus one can elect a commuter plan, and there are several to pick from. My son will get a one meal/weekday kind of plan. These run about 500-750/semester depending upon whether one is interested in additional dining dollars.</p>

<p>Just am raising my hand to say I'm taking in ALL of these ideas.
(Dog bites man, LOL, yes JHS, I thought it was a prosaic complaint :) YAWN. What, no STD's? Entertain me a bit, youngest son, this one's too easy!!</p>

<p>MATHMOM: I ordered the "Tray" book from Amazon with expedited shipping, just so we'd be able to converse during his January break. Looks cute! I want to keep the conversation wide. Some Yalie authors wrote up how to put the cheese squares or apples from the cafeteria into your pocket and use the microwave in the room to make cheese fondue, baked apples. Smart, too, that they don't use measurements; who would take anything from the cafeteria line with a measuring cup? But if you take home enough ingredients, new meals could emerge. </p>

<p>Will teach him about my Aunt Sophie's "fuh-late-uh" ('for later") purse pockets (film reference: Keeping Up with the Steins, watch the boy's grandmother tuck away the dinner rolls as their restaurant meal ends). Those college cafeteria ingredients could go into microwave/fridge that 3 households paid for, so perhaps he can maximize that resource. </p>

<p>I also will explore with him why he even thinks he could get out of the meal plan before sophomore year!</p>

<p>I see that the 7 pm cafeteria closing bothers other posters, too. In fairness, though,
tuition increases bother families, and they do open a breakfast time...</p>

<p>Thanks to ALL who posted; plus: happy for any additional suggestions. </p>

<p>Am glad this is his only stated "problem" since it feels fixable, even if it has to be endured awhile longer but with the "Tray" response for this year...</p>

<p>
[quote]
My son told me another girl arranged with her food service to use her unspent dollars to purchase whole turkeys which she donated to the local mission.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is a good point. At my school you can donate left over meal plan meals also. However, they only donate like, $2 per meal. Of course if you want to pay cash to eat the meal, it costs like $10. <em>grumble</em></p>

<p>I think you can only donate from block plans though too because what freshmen have to have (the gold plans) don't roll over weekly if you don't use all the meals per week. It's pretty sketchy. I'm hoping next year to not have to have one or only have a limited one or something. The food looks okay to me if you can eat it but it's pretty expensive for me to have a meal plan when I can't eat most food they have anyway (I don't eat eggs, dairy, or meat). My major complaint is that there is no labelling whatsoever of ingredients, despite attempts to get this fixed, and that is a problem for a lot of people. If you have food restrictions it is difficult to know what is "safe". But I have to say that the food which I know I can eat that is provided daily is adequate in terms of nutrition and quantity, so I am grateful for that.</p>

<p>One last thought/comment...it probably goes without saying that it doesn't hurt to be extra nice to the dining hall staff. DS is on a self imposed fairly strict diet and has special ladies who make up egg white omelets, etc. for him....a smile and a lot of manners go a long way in improving the standard fare...</p>

<p>
[quote]
a smile and a lot of manners go a long way in improving the standard fare...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>He can definitely charm, and in clumsy Spanish-Second-Language, which is relevant to campus staff at a SoCalifornia school. </p>

<p>I'll add "charming the cafeteria staff" to my list of discussion points. </p>

<p>He's reassured that I'm taking his only gripe seriously. We're waiting for the book to come in, at a time he's not hungry (good luck) to brainstorm.</p>

<p>I'm also going to let him shop the Indian spice store near here, to try out some sprinkle-ons. He likes spice. </p>

<p>Maybe I'll get 7 little jars and have him mark them Monday-Sunday, like underwear. :)</p>

<p>There's a small part of me that's bursting with pride that he doesn't like their dull food. I extrapolate compliments wherever they lurk.</p>

<p>I believe my freshman is at the same school as paying3tuitions and she would also like to opt out of the dining plan. She barely used any of the dining hall meals last semester and only used about half of the extra dollar allowance (until the last week when she took friends out to an expensive dinner at the one fancy restaurant). Alternatively, she has suggested that she up her plan to the more costly one that doesn't include dining hall meals but rather a dollar amount that can be used in any of the school's "residential and retail dining locations." That sounds reasonable except that I figured out that there are approximately 113 days in the semester and the dining plan costs $2934 - or $26 per day. And most of the dining options aren't even open on weekends so I'm sure she'd end up eating elsewhere much of the time, as she has this past semester. I don't really see a solution and haven't decided what to do. I also looked into that book and if your son sees someone "cooking" on her tray, tell him to say hi.</p>

<p>Edit: The bright side is that she's making dinner for the whole family while she's home on vacation and baking cookies as well. Yay.</p>

<p>Maybe we should be preparing to send them back to college with Sourdough starters, like the pioneers of the Wild West?</p>

<p>How many bricks of tasty food could I put into his suitcase, and is there time to bake them?? Hmmm...</p>