Housing and Meal Plan Info for Enrolled Freshmen

<p>Have any enrolled freshmen received any of this info in the mail yet? We have not. USD said they would mail it out beginning mid-April. The sign-up is May 9 and D will be incommunicado til May 7.</p>

<p>No, not yet. I called yesterday and the woman told me to keep checking the portal and your personal san diego e-mail account. Also, an 8 page questionnaire will be sent soon to determine academic advisors.</p>

<p>If you go to the “personal info” tab on the portal, there is a box to select your meal plan for fall 2011. There is info on the usd website about the different meal plans but I’m sure they’ll be sending us info as well.</p>

<p>it should be on your portal!</p>

<p>If you have any questions about the different housing and meal plans I can help!</p>

<p>dconfused, I have a question for you. I’ve been told to buy a cheap meal plan so you can later add to it but I was confused on how that works versus the dining dollars. Also, how likely are you to get your first choice on dorms, especially requestiing a roommate or a single room? (sorry it’s off this topic!)</p>

<p>Here is the problem with meal plans, they are separated into a few parts. While this is all on your student Id, they are used differently. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Meals
The number of meals you have is the number of your plan ie. 135, 105 etc. These meals can only be used for dinners and brunch. It is extremely common to have a ton of these left over. For example, I currently have 65 left, and my roommate has 77. </p></li>
<li><p>Dining Dollars
These are purchased with your meal plan and are a part of it. They are used for breakfast and lunch. These can be used anywhere on campus and in Tu mercado the store on campus for certain items only.</p></li>
<li><p>Campus Cash
These are almost the exact same thing as dining dollars except they are not purchased with your meal plan and can be used for anything in the store along with things such as on campus printing.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>My suggestions? Buy the 105 meal plan, the smallest one. You will likely run out of dining dollars (my roommate is down to 24, and I have 75), but these can be supplemented with campus cash. You can not get a smaller meal plan, but you can increase it! Next year I will be getting a smaller meal plan, and using the money I save from that to buy campus cash!</p>

<p>I will do housing in a separate post!</p>

<p>Missions A is the hardest housing to get. Additionally, singles are pretty unlikely. If you have a medical condition then you can submit that to increase your chances. Would anyone like a rundown on the housing options</p>

<p>Yes, please!! More housing info! Thanks!!</p>

<p>For freshmen there are two general areas for housing</p>

<ol>
<li>Up on on the campus “main strip”</li>
<li>Down in the Valley</li>
</ol>

<p>When you are trying to pick your housing the first thing you may want to look at the two areas as they both have pros and cons.</p>

<ol>
<li>Up on the Campus main strip
Pros
Close to Class (you can role out of bed and walk downstairs)
You are close to many dining options</li>
</ol>

<p>Cons
You don’t really “get away”, what I mean by this is you are always up on campus and don’t ever really leave it</p>

<p>The Valley
Pros
No triples
Missiosn cafe (they are open all day and until about 11)
The Gym is in the Valley
You get to get away</p>

<p>Cons
longer walk to campus
Longer walk to everything actually</p>

<p>Up on campus options
Camino/founders
Maher</p>

<p>In the Valley
Missions A
Missions B</p>

<p>First of all I would like to suggest that you do not pick a choice because it is coed or vice versa. It really makes no difference. In the buildings which are coed you cannot get onto the floor/side of the floor of the opposite sex without being let in the door, and in the ones which are there is a bridge where you can get in. If someone lets you in the door. Anyways, like I said, the fact that it is coed alone will not make a noticeable difference, just what aspects that brings out will. Onward…</p>

<p>Founders/Camino: These are the only NOT coed housing options. They are mainly triples (I think) To be honest, most people I know hated founders. But, I know a lot of guys in Camino and they love it. Camino guys tend to form a sort of fraternity and all get to know each other. It is on campus and pretty close to almost everything. The downside is that the rooms are on the smaller size.</p>

<p>Maher: This is another very popular housing choice. These are almost exclusively triples, but they are also nice size rooms with private bathrooms. Aromas is attached, and is open pretty late. The downside is that you have to clean the bathroom yourself.</p>

<p>The Valley
Missions A: This is a very popular choice. The rooms are sweet style and are all doubles and singles. Each floor has 8 students in either doubles or singles and has 2 bathrooms. Again these bathrooms must be cleaned by the residents. The rooms are also nice sized. The only real downside here is cleaning bathrooms yourself, and being kinda far from main campus.</p>

<p>Missions B
Missions B offers traditional housing with bathrooms down the hall. The rooms are large, and the bathrooms are cleaned for you. However, you have two bathrooms with two showers and two stalls for about 30 people. Not fun.</p>

<p>dconfused: Could you explain the actual process of signing up on the portal, if you remember? I’m trying to advise D ahead of time with as much info as possible because she’s out of country and usually has poor skype and internet connection. </p>

<p>For example, how do you list what housing you want? By building and number of roomies? Like if you really wanted Maher, would you list Maher triple, then Maher quad, then Maher double, etc., all separately? How many choices do you get to put down? </p>

<p>What do you think about a single (if you’re in a suite like Missions A)? Is it too lonely or is it good to have your own space w/o roommate issues? What do students in singles say about them? How limited is the availability? Like there are only 5 total lol. </p>

<p>RL office told me priority is given by date of enrollment.
Thanks for taking time to help.</p>

<p>How likely are you to get paired up with someone you request? Or even if my son requests to be on the same floor as two of his friends, is that a likelihood? Thanks!</p>

<p>gosimoes: I have never heard of a request to be on the same floor, but everyone who has requested a roommate pretty much gets it as long as they keep their top choices the same. </p>

<p>midwstmom: Okay, so it is actually really simple! It will be online, but you will basically go through and select the top like five or six choices, and then, like yo said, you also select whether you would like a single, double triple etc. </p>

<p>They claim it is by enrollment date, and that may be true, however I think this may not be true in practice. </p>

<p>What do you think about a single (if you’re in a suite like Missions A)? Is it too lonely or is it good to have your own space w/o roommate issues? What do students in singles say about them? How limited is the availability? Like there are only 5 total lol. </p>

<p>I think that a single in a suite would be just fine! You will still be sharing living space so you don’t get to lonely, but you also get your own private space! Just be warned this is probably the hardest to get (Missions A or Maher).</p>

<p>I would guess that for every person who gets a single, about 3-4 get doubles. It is rare, but not impossible. It would be very very unlikely to get a single in camino/founders and maher, however there are some available in missions A and B.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info!</p>

<p>No problem! Good luck everyone!</p>

<p>Finished my housing questionnaire and turned in my deposit in February. Do you think I’ll have a good chance of getting my number one and when do we find out?</p>

<p>In past years priority was given by date of deposit. If this is still the case you have a great chance since many don’t put in their deposits until March when FA info comes out, or April after the admitted student weekends.</p>