<p>So basically, my school is currently planning on changing the dining system for next year. Currently, the closest thing we have to a plan is that a few of the dorms have dining halls that serve dinner, and you pay 300 dollars per semester to be on the plan, but the plan only gives you 50% off , which amounts to 3-5 dollars per meal (everything is served a la carte though, so you could get just a desert or a soda and not have you pay extra or anything). Anyone can be on a plan, and it's mandatory if you live in a dorm with a dining hall. We're on our own for lunch and breakfast, though there are numerous eateries on campus or at least nearby, and all non-dining hall dorms have a lot of kitchens.</p>
<p>They plan they are proposing is an all you can eat plan for breakfast and dinner that will cost about 1900 dollars per semester, and one dorm will have all you can eat for every meal, which would be about 2400 per semester I believe (so these plans will be mandatory for those that live in dorms with dining halls). So right now, this is a big deal because it's a lot more expensive that what most people have been doing for food, and a lot of reasons that stem from that.</p>
<p>But I think the idea for this plan comes from the fact that all you can eat plans are so widespread in other colleges? But I'm not really familiar with the systems in other colleges, so I was curious to how they work and stuff.</p>
<p>I have 150 all-you-can-eat meals per semester that I can use any time when the dining hall is open, which is like 8am to 9pm. I could have had more or fewer meals, even unlimited, and it also comes with dining dollars which can be used in various cafes around campus and blue bucks, which can be used for laundry, vending machines, and the fast food places inside the union.</p>
<p>I really like my meal plan. I have unlimited meals with 300 “dining dollars”. That means I can go into any cafeteria on campus an unlimited number of times. We aren’t charged for individual items. Once you swipe your card, you can eat until you drop. The dining dollars are used for the campus restaurants like Chik-fil-A and Subway. We also have a thing called meal equivalency where when you go into certain restaurants you can ask for meal equivalency and they automatically subtract a certain amount of money. It counts as a meal for people who don’t have unlimited meal plans, but it’s a great deal. For example, if I went into Subway and ordered something that cost $7.55 and I asked for meal equivalency, it would only cost me $3.55. You can also use ME in the convenience stores, so a sandwich, chips and drink, would count as a meal, but not cost anything. </p>
<p>Overall, I think it’s a great system and I’m really happy with it.</p>
<p>If you live in one of the dorms, you are required to have a meal plan of at least 8 meals per week which costs like $2500/semester, and you can have up to an unlimited number of meals per week.</p>
<p>We have one dining hall, and 2 other places on campus that you can use your “munch money” at (“money” on your ID card that comes with your meal plan – higher amts for the bigger meal plans).</p>
<p>We have kind of an ala carte dining system. I thought I would like it, but it turns out that it really, really sucks. Basically, you have a set amount of money on your meal card at the beginning of the semester. Each piece of food in the dining hall is worth a different price, and the prices are advertised as ridiculously inexpensive, but you don’t realize how the amounts of food you get add up. You have to swipe your card each time you want something – it’s not all-you-can-eat – and in most dining halls, there is nowhere you can see what you are being charged. There have been a lot of problems this semester with the cafeteria cashiers taking advantage of that and overcharging. I know a ton of people who have run out of money on their meal plans because they don’t realize how much they’re spending.</p>
<p>Also, if you don’t have a meal plan, you’re charged 2.5x the price. I had friends come up from home one weekend who paid $15 for coffee, pancakes, and bacon.</p>
<p>At UMD you buy a meal plan. I think the plan I bought this semester had like 725 points and it cost $750 (apparently there’s a $25 “fee” aka a money grab). But they work like dollars, really. </p>
<p>The resident plans give you purely resident points so you can only use them to buy food at Dining Services locations, while the apartment and other plans (what I have) can be used anywhere. So for instance, someone with a resident plan would need to put on “terp bucks” to buy something like deodorant with their card, while with my plan I can just use those points to buy it.</p>