Which dorms are the best to live in? Why? Should I get a meal plan?
It really depends on what you mean by best. What’s best to you isn’t necessarily best to anyone else.
No, you should not get a meal plan unless you have to get one, or you feel like you’re actually going to get your ~ $2000 worth. And you probably won’t. It’s easier to get pay per meal as long as you don’t go into the dining halls for snack-type meals.
@jklm240 Some dorms require a meal plan. See the FSU housing page. In regard to the best dorms, you need to first decide what you are looking for. A living learning community dorm? A more social dorm? A more studious, quiet dorm?
@Pasbal if you chose no meal plan can you go into the dining halls and pay per meal? Are there any other options for food that are not in the dining hall that are on campus ?
@NewYorker404 Yes, you can pay per meal. It’s a bit of sticker shock when you see the price but it’s not awful. Plus, you can buy GarnetBucks (which are like FlexBucks, except they don’t expire until you graduate), if you’re scared about giving your kid money for food and hoping they don’t overspend.
There are restaurants around campus that aren’t dining halls. There’s Chili’s, Chick-Fil-A, Subway, Papa Johns, Denny’s and the like. If you go to the Seminole Dining website they have a list of restaurants.
Keep in mind, one of the issues with meal plans is that they basically are only a good deal if you would use over 2 meals a day. For most college students, that doesn’t sound too bad- except that the dining hall hours absolutely suck on weekends and holidays. Unless it’s changed, the dining halls are usually only open for about 9 hours (from 10:30am to 7:30pm). It’s pretty difficult to get a full 3 meals worth of food within a 9 hour period. Sure, during the week they’re open 7:30am to 10:30pm but unless you go for all 3 meals it’s not really worthwhile to get a meal plan vs. buying per meal.
@pasbal thanks! I heard that the food is not that great. ( As are the complaints about most college campus food except for very few colleges.) so this sounds like a better choice.
The food isn’t awful. It’s repetitive, especially with only the 2 dining halls that typically rotate through a menu, but it isn’t necessarily terrible. Most days it’s actually pretty decent.
Keep in mind too, if you go the fall semester trying to see if your kid can use a meal plan to its full value, you can get a meal plan in the spring for that semester. If you buy one for fall, you are automatically obligated to buy one for spring (so if you decide in the fall semester that it’s a bad deal for your kid, you still have to buy one in the spring).