Georgetown Meal Plan?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<p>So, Georgetown's Meal Plan options seem a little ridiculous because the top two choices are the 24 meal plan or the 14 meal plan. It's either two meals a day or three meals a day plus three extra meals? And the difference in cost is only $245 per semester ($2190 - $1945). Assuming that each semester is approximately 20 weeks, under the 24 meal plan, each meal costs $4.56 while the 14 meal plan indicates that each meal costs $6.95. Even if you only eat 16 meals of your 24 meal plan, your individual meal cost would still be a little lower than if you were to take the 14 meal plan ($6.84).</p>

<p>Anyhow, does anyone recommend taking the 14 meal plan over the 24 meal plan? The price difference seems to be almost nonexistent between the two, and being able to eat 3 square meals a day at the dining halls seems to eliminate the need for a personal refrigerator.</p>

2

<p>Yes, the pricing structure is bizarre, though not quite so bad as your math would suggest. I had the 24 plan freshman year. You won’t end up eating all of those, but it’s best to have peace of mind and the cost difference is small. Take 24 first semester and then keep track of how many you eat each week. After that you’ll know what to do for second semester.</p>

<p>I should also mention that you’ll get tired of Leo’s quickly and you’ll look for ways to eat elsewhere, but I still think 24 is appropriate first semester.</p>

3

<p>where else can yuo eat?</p>

4

<p>At my revisit weekend, I heard a lot of kids end up using their “flex bucks” at a variety of places on campus (i.e. Starbucks, Cosi’s, Subway, Pizza Hut etc.) or simply eat off campus. When I revisited, I had Leo’s and it was less than stellar, but hey, there’s so much in dc, it doesn’t really matter, ha.</p>

5

<p>What exactly do you mean that it’s not so bad as my math suggests? I only suggested that if you eat only 2 more meals than the 14 meal plan, it would be a cheaper deal per meal than the 14 meal plan itself (especially since I didn’t figure in the difference between flex dollars). I wouldn’t be surprised if I get bored of food from one place, no matter how excellent it is, but in terms of convenience, 24 meal plan seems to be best. With fast food prices rising so quickly, $5.00 per meal is a bargain.</p>

6

<p>^ You assumed a 20 week semester, which is really far off. You’re basically paying for just a bit over 14 weeks of food (this makes it worse, I know), so that’s 336 meals under then 24 plan or 196 under the 14 plan, we’ll round to 340 and 200 because, as I said, it’s just a bit over 14 weeks.</p>

<p>You also have to take into account flex dollars, though, which you essentially get back in that you can spend them at a variety of other locations. The 24 plan gives you $100 flex dollars vs. $75 for the 14 plan, so the actual cost of the plans is $2090 and $1870.</p>

<p>This, then, works out to a per meal cost of $6.15 for the 24 plan and $9.35 for the 14 plan, so there is, in fact, a larger gap than your estimate indicated. Your basic conclusion, that paying for 24 and eating 16 works out better, is still accurate, though, as this would work out to $9.33. </p>

<p>Assuming you eat a standard 3 meals a day and you eat them all at Leo’s (you won’t), you’d be paying $7.11 per meal. You could definitely “beat” that price, even without cooking for yourself, particularly when you look at the fact that breakfast will almost always be substantially less than $7.</p>

<p>I told you before that 24 was a good idea, and I had done it myself. I still agree with that, but just to play devil’s advocate. Let’s say you get the 10 meal plan: $1701 of which you get $50 back as flex dollars, leaving a final cost of $1651. Now, let’s say you’re just happy eating milk and cereal for breakfast every morning. A box of cereal costs like $3 and will last you a week, a half-gallon of milk will cost you $2, so you can get by for breakfast at $5 per week ($70 for the semester). We’ll say you always eat dinner in the dining hall and use the other three meals on three lunches. So, right now, you’ve spent $1721 and all you need to do is cover lunch three times per week, or a total of 42 lunches. If you can pay less than $8.78 for each of these lunches, then you beat the cost of the 24 plan.</p>

7

<p>I have a 10 meal-plan. I’m also a girl so I probably don’t eat as much, but Leo’s got old after about 3 weeks, and it got terrible after a few months. There’s no variation in the meals, and some of the food is downright terrible, and I don’t like eating the same thing all the time. I think that the 10 meal-plan is worth it, but 14 is probably better to start off with. I still have some flex dollars left over for the semester, and cooking my own food is a lot healthier/more delicious/sometimes more convenient anyway.</p>

<p>I rarely eat breakfast, but if I do it’s probably a bagel at a Corp coffee shop ($1.35) or cereal ($5-6 a box at a corp store, lasts a week or so). I don’t eat breakfast at Leo’s ever - I only have twice, in part because it’s too early, and also because the food isn’t worth it. I don’t eat at Leo’s on the weekend unless it’s raining or snowing - I just go to a restaurant in Georgetown, Dupont Circle, or Foggy Bottom. Some things at the Corp stores aren’t ridiculously overpriced (ok, it’s pretty much pasta and ramen), so I cook those occasionally.</p>

<p>There are the fast food places in Hoya Court - Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell. Only Subway is actually open for more than 4 hours, and the Pizza Hut is kind of gross unless you just stick with the breadsticks. It’s also extremely overpriced.</p>

<p>I don’t know anyone who uses all of their meals - I don’t, and I have a 10-meal plan.</p>

8

<p>so basically the food sucks?</p>

<p>lol and to think i couldve been at cornell, #4th ranked dining in the country</p>

9

<p>I’m pretty critical of the food, but compared to other schools where I was accepted (and waitlisted, damn you Williams), the food is terrible. The large state university which I live next to has way better food, surprisingly. I still go most days for dinner, but it’s pretty repetitive. I guess it could be fine if you trust open salad bars and lunch meats lying in an open bar…but I don’t. If you go to to the Georgetown dining website and look at the menus, you can see what they have. It has the potential to be good, but it isn’t. The cookies are good, the chicken fingers on Thursdays are usually good, and the fresh bananas and oranges can be good.</p>

<p>Sometimes I just hate Leo’s and avoid it at all costs, like now. My friends and I haven’t been since Wednesday.</p>

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<p>^^ so where do you eat instead?</p>

11

<p>Sometimes I just cook, like if I have a lot of work and Leo’s + spending over an hour at Leo’s wouldn’t work out…since most people enjoy Leo’s because it is a time to meet up with your friends. Other times, I get take out with friends…at Wingo’s (delicious wings), Domino’s, Tuscany (great cheesy bread), or Uno. A lot of people get Wisey’s, too…ther’s Grab and Go for when you don’t have time, and it has chips, an entree (fruit cup, salad, sandwich), fresh fruit (oranges, bananas, apples), drinks (coke products, including Minute Maid juices), and cookies. </p>

<p>There is also Cosi and Starbucks in the student center, and bagels and sandwiches available at the Corp stores/coffee shops. The bagels are delicious and only $1.35 with cream cheese…so it doesn’t really cost that much. There are a ton of places to eat on the weekend, whether in Georgetown or around DC…so it’s pretty easy to find places to eat.</p>

12

<p>I ate at Leo’s during GAAP weekend and i thought the food was good!</p>

<p>on the other hand, when i visited williams (which I ultimately turned down :() the food was terrible. not nearly as many choices</p>

13

<p>I liked the food! Then again I got flown up so I ate special food most of the weekend I was there…but even the regular dining hall food was good…and healthy, unlike most of the food at Leo’s. Also, I took someone around on GAAP weekend and the food was better than usual. It not only is usually worse, but anything will get old and unappetizing if you eat it enough.</p>

14

<p>I’ve read there are kitchens in the dorms, but it’s like a common room. Is there some sort of full size fridge where you can store groceries, then? And wouldn’t that make your groceries vulnerable to being used by others? I know you can have your own mini-fridge, but 3 cubic feet is barely enough for a proper amount of groceries.</p>