<p>My d has heard the meal plan is really bad at FSU. Anyone have any info on the type they have? She heard many kids don't take the plan and their parents send them money to eat out. Doesn't seem right to me...</p>
<p>"Cafeteria food" is cafeteria food. But I actually think it is better at FSU than other locations. It is just that it gets old. Suwanee and Fresh Foods try to vary the offerings and mix it up. But after 100 days, it can be something you have seen/tasted before. I was impressed at Orientation when the parents eat there. </p>
<p>Sure, there are wealthy kids everywhere who forgo the meal plan to eat out daily. At FSU they are in the minority. My freshman D has a meal plan. She is in a dorm that requires one. She also rushed a sorority that has a mandatory meal plan so that the girls eat meals together for bonding purposes. We got the cheapest meal plan at FSU for this reason. She can eat breakfast and/or lunch at the meal plan locations and takes dinner most times at the house. </p>
<p>Her dorm, and most of the dorms we visited all have a kitchen on each floor with a stove and oven. Some of the girls not in a sorority get the cheapest meal plan and cook some of their dinners in the dorm. You can use the flex bucks on the plan for groceries at the FSU stores. The flex bucks can also be used at the on-campus food locations such as Hardees and Chili's etc. Each plan comes with meals and flex bucks. </p>
<p>My D eats out once every two weeks. Money for that comes out of her monthly budget, which is $150 month and includes pretty much everything she needs/wants that is not tuition/room/board/books. It covers toiletries, gas, restaurant meals, school supplies, groceries for the dorm refrigerator.... She probably could get by on $100, but has been good at only spending what she needs, and has saved up some.</p>
<p>The meal plans are very flexible. Check out <a href="http://www.SeminoleDining.com%5B/url%5D">www.SeminoleDining.com</a>. You can get a plan for every single meal of the week (they serve 3/day M-F and 2/day S/S for 19 meals a week. You can get any 14/week or 7/week. You can get 100/term or 150/term etc. (About 15-16 weeks a term.) That way you can eat more some weeks and less others and not feel like a weekend at home is a waste of a meal plan. Each plan comes with Flex bucks which can be used at the on-campus Starbucks, Hardees, Chiles, Einstein Bagels..... If one runs out of Flex bucks, there are Garnet Bucks which are more of the same, but they do not expire each term but rather don't expire until graduation.
<a href="http://www.campusdish.com/en-us/CSS/FloridaState/products.aspx?CatalogNavigationBreadCrumbs=FSUVirtualCatalog;Meal%20Plans(FSUBaseCatalog)&ShowTop=true%5B/url%5D">http://www.campusdish.com/en-us/CSS/FloridaState/products.aspx?CatalogNavigationBreadCrumbs=FSUVirtualCatalog;Meal%20Plans(FSUBaseCatalog)&ShowTop=true</a>
Click Spring/Fall and see the choices for plans.</p>
<p>Is it better to just get the cheapest meal plan and buy your own groceries,</p>
<p>or are meal plans a REALLY good deal?</p>
<p>because I honestly cannot live on only 3 meals a day, let alone 2 (I get hungry ALOT), but I'm not rich, either.</p>
<p>Can I get the most bang for my buck with a good meal plan, or is it better to get the cheapest meal plan possible and buy my own groceries, given that I'm in a dorm that requires a meal plan?</p>
<p>Well, if you eat ALOT and want 4-5 meals a day, your best bet is the unlimited meal plan, because I think it is not just 3 meals a day, but you can visit Suwanee and Fresh Foods an unlimited number of times each day. I think it averages out to $4 a meal. Sure, you can eat breakfast for $2 a meal, but eating out or even fixing meals, if you eat large portions or eat frequently, you wont get buy on $5 for lunch and $5 for dinner (2+5+5 =12). </p>
<p>If you are going Summer, try the biggest plan since it is only 6 weeks and see how you like it.</p>
<p>Do you have transportation with which to get to the grocery store? Because it's kind of a hassle taking the bus to publix and back loaded down with grocery bags...</p>
<p>I'm in a dorm that requires a meal plan, and I have 10 a week this semester (14 a week last semester). I'm also really close to the Suwannee, which is good because I can get takeout really easily, or just sketch over in my pajamas. When I had the 14 a week, I usually had a couple left over at the end of the week, and I would just get a couple extra boxes and fill them with pizza or carrots, or yogurt, or cereal, which I could eat later whenever I wanted.</p>
<p>If you get a small meal plan, though, you get more flexbucks, which can be used at the dining places around campus (chilis, quiznos, einstiens, hardees, sushi, pollo tropical, etc). </p>
<p>It's also good to know that if you get a small meal plan and don't like it, you can UPgrade any time throughout the semester. But if you get a big plan, you can't DOWNgrade until the end of the semester. Also, if you do choose to downgrade between semesters, you still have to pay the same amount, you just get the difference in flex bucks.</p>
<p>Hope this helps at all :]</p>
<p>Thank you so much. This has been very helpful!</p>
<p>Fresh Food Company = Lies</p>
<p>Suwanee = Truth</p>
<p>FFC Lies almost 6/7 days a week about what they will be serving so when you get there, you end up eating yesterday’s herb roasted chicken instead of today’s catfish.</p>
<p>my 2 cents :)</p>
<p>The dining halls here are terrible.
What really bothers me is that they make amazing food during orientation, preview, and parents weekend, and then the quality just tanks during the actual school year.</p>
<p>I live in Gilchrist (mandatory membership hall), and I have the 100 block plan. I used about 60 meals last semester, and will probably use around 50 this semester. My advice- get garnet bucks if you can get out of the meal plan. They roll over from year to year and you get a 10% bonus on what you buy.</p>
<p>They have recently started a 4 year construction job on the Johnston building, so it’s a huge pain to walk to Suwannee now. My girlfriend lives in Salley, so I’ve started eating at Fresh a lot now (which is way better than Suwannee)</p>
<p>If you are able to, on M-F 11-1:30, you can go to the university center D and eat at Figg (the athlete’s dining room). The food there is delicious and makes me less upset with the meal plan system in general. </p>
<p>There is no reason why I should be paying upwards of 9$ per meal when all that I can eat is a bowl of cereal and some pizza. It’s just Aramark wanting to scam money off poor college students :)</p>
<p>I’ve never had a problem at Quiznos or Einstein’s. I go there all the time cause I don’t want to deal with the dining halls.</p>