<p>Is health insurance (for access to the Infirmary or Shands) covered under the local fees? Do students pick up a supplementary policy through the school, or are you GENERALLY covered by your parents' policy? UF's Cost of Attendance figures always lump in personal expenses with health insurance. I'd like to separate the two.</p>
<p>Students could really help me on weekly expenses too: How much are you spending on average per week on food and personal? I'm trying to figure out realistic costs for my son heading up for summer B, thanks ...</p>
<p>Our personal health Insurance policy covers our daughter. You do need to call them though & let them know that your son is moving to gainesville. I give my daughter $200.00 a month. That is in addition to her meal plan.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you are signing up for the meal plan or not. Be careful about that though. If your son is a big eater & eats many times a day & doesn’t have a problem going to the dining hall then the unlimited 5 or 7 day plan is good for him. My daughter is not so 1st semester we lost a lot of money on that. 2nd semester I converted her meal plan to the declining balance acct. She can go anywhere at anytime & only eat what she wants. That works better for us. Just a word of advice b/c you might lose money if not.</p>
<p>I live off campus and spend about 100 dollars a week on food including when I eat out. I eat very healthily, buy fresh food, use reasonable prices and brands, and only eat out 3 times a week maybe… and buy eating out I mean Subway, Pollo Tropical, etc.</p>
<p>I do not have health insurance so idk what to say there.</p>
<p>BTW there is little/no difference between the effective costs of a meal plan and declining balance. Meal plan is a flat fee and you eat whatever you get out of that and many times it comes with flexbucks which acts as declining balance. But declining balance is basically using a debit card… there is no advantage to it besides the convenience of it being on your Gator 1 card.</p>
<p>I mean, if you ate 3 meals a day using declining a balance or a debit card you will probably be spending 20 dollars a day eating. At 7 days a week 16 weeks per semester that is 2240 dollars, which is the same money as just buying a meal plan. At least with a meal plan you know upfront how much your meals will cost.</p>
<p>Assuming you actually eat all the meals on your meal plan regularly you will benefit from the savings from a meal plan.</p>
<p>Oh and btw if I you buy a meal plan in fall you are required to buy one in spring. If you fight with UF about buying one in spring then you have to pay the equivalent and it will be converted to declining balance / flex bucks. Yeah, meal plan is a contract, read the fine print.</p>
<p>I spend about 100 dollars per week as well, I can get by on about 10 dollars a day when money is tight. Because I’m a student, I’m still covered by my parents health insurance, so that doesn’t effect my personal expenses.</p>
<p>When I was a froshman living on campus, I had the unlimited meal plan and like it. I mean the dining hall isn’t great, but it’s fine and with unlimited it was a good deal. One thing sometimes don’t think about is the fact that the dining hall is sometimes a social experience, a bunch of time a group from my dorm went to the dining hall together. My roommate and I ate at the dining hall together a lot. Paying 7$ to eat there each time would of been a ripoff, you can get a sub from subway for less, but then you’re eating alone or only with people that arn’t using their mealplan.</p>
<p>Oh also, the infirmary is covered by student costs, but if you have to go to Shands for something more serious, you have to pay for it. Also things like XRays you have to pay for. If you have insurance, they will reimburse you.</p>
<p>Zaersz, what kinds of things do students get treatment for at the infirmary? Just trying to gauge what kind of thing they’ll tell a student to go to Shands for.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman without a meal plan and I usually make it on about $10 a day. Usually I’ll eat a granola bar for breakfast and budget $5 for lunch and for dinner each if I’m eating on campus. Also I can go to the dining hall with friends, and if I go there (just under $10 for dinner) I just cut back a little the next few days. Today I only spent 4 dollars on food by eating breakfast/lunch in my dorm and grabbing a $4 combo at the convenience store.</p>
<p>As for the infirmary I haven’t had anything serious so I don’t know about Shands, but I did get a shot and had to get insurance to cover it for the infirmary. Also of note, the infirmary is moving from its central location (near Murphree area dorms) to across from Lakeside (southwest campus) in the near future (probably before fall 2010) so costs might go up to pay off the cost of the new building more quickly.</p>
<p>Basically, if you’re just feeling ill and need to see a doctor, or have like a sports injury or something like that you’d go to the infirmary. If you needed to be checked into the hospital, then you’d have to go to Shands. If it’s really serious, the infirmary won’t be good for you. If you just need to see a doctor, that’s an infirmary case.</p>
<p>As per the new building, that’s the new Wellness center to reunite the Student Mental Health and the Counseling Center. Things like that are paid for by our student fees. As far as I know, the Infirmary will stay right were it is.</p>
<p>And it’s a shame that if you buy a fall meal plan you have to buy a spring one. I was hoping to try it on for the first semester and see if I was wasting money or saving money by doing the meal plan instead of declining balance. I’m not a guy who usually eats three meals a day, so I don’t know if the meal plan will be worth it.</p>
<p>Ultimately you have to figure out which meal plan option (if any) is best for you. Unlimited isn’t always the way to go, unless you don’t wanna have any worries about the food, and decide you like the offerings. Might wanna eat at the dining halls at preview (and/or during a visit) and see what you think.</p>
<p>One of my biggest recommendations is that if you DON’T buy a mealplan, to investigate places to eat that arn’t on campus and especially arn’t the dining halls. Right across university there’s a bunch of places that are much better value if you don’t have the meal plan. It makes me shudder to think some people pay 7 dollars to eat the dining hall food, when they could just go to a real restaurant for the same price.</p>
<p>i have gone to the student clinic before and can comment on it:</p>
<p>It says on the window of the check in place there that if you do more than speak to the doctor you have to pay a fee. But I have gone in to see the doctor many times and have recieved Rx’s for antibiotics, skin-care drugs, and a referral to a specialist and never paid a dime. My doctor there is really good too. I dont really know how other clinics operate but I already know if I want some serious clinical work but don’t want to go to the hospital I will use one of the equal access clinics that are around.</p>