<p>Any advice on meal plan options for new students ? Thanks</p>
<p>The best advice I heard at orientation was to look at your schedule before you decide. Since swipes have specific times and you basically lose out if you miss that time slot, you want to see if your schedule is going to make you miss a time slot on a regular basis.</p>
<p>We tried 16+ which is suppose to be best value unless you’re someone who is going to eat every meal and my child couldn’t use all her swipes each week (and she basically lives above one of the cafeterias). She almost always ate breakfast in her room and then ate once or twice a week at events like religious student union or the church where she works, which are both free. The good news is you can change up until 1st day of class (I think) and can always move up to larger plan and you can change each semester so you can start large just to have flexibility and then change second semester if you find you’re not using it all.</p>
<p>Also, fyi, for most meal plans you get bonus bucks based on what year you are. For this (and for sports tickets) USC includes hours from AP/IB. My child got bonus bucks for sophmore as a freshman because of this.</p>
<p>Thanks, does she like the school?</p>
<p>We are mulling over this question as well.</p>
<p>The pricing of the meal plans is very strange IMO.</p>
<p>For example, 21 swipes is $1376, but 14 swipes is $1282. 67% of the meals, 93% of the price. 10 swipes is $1175, which is 48% of the meals, 85% of the price.</p>
<p>And the 16+ swipe plan is more ($1398) than the 21 swipe plan. Yes you get $100 extra Bonus Bucks, which will buy you 16-18 meals or so, but the plan itself has 80 fewer meals. So it nets out to 60 or so fewer meals, but costs more. 
</p>
<p>They clearly expect that you will not use many of your swipes per semester, otherwise these prices make no sense.</p>
<p>Regardless, the meal plans are ridiculously cheap - they are 55-60% of what we are paying for DS at his school.</p>
<p>Ya, that drove me crazy last year trying to figure out what the best deal was. When I was in college my dorm was adjacent to the dining facility so I almost never missed a meal. But these days, with many dorm rooms having kitchens, and many of them being several blocks from any on-campus dining facility, I don’t think that there are really that many students who eat every meal at a school dining facility like I did way back then. Plus USC is in the middle of a small to medium size city so there are lots of off campus alternatives, particularly on the weekends.</p>
<p>The college knows that few students are going eat 21 meals on campus each week, so they can offer the 21 meal plan at not too much over the 16+ plan. Most students don’t even eat 16 meals on campus. But more meals at a lower cost is not a bargain unless you actually utilize those meal swipes.</p>
<p>So the lower the # of meals on the plan, the higher the cost is, to the point that it would be just as cheap just to pay cash at each meal as to have a meal card. </p>
<p>My advice would be that unless your student is a big eater and has a very strict meal schedule (as in never skips a meal), I probably would get the smallest meal plan available.</p>
<p>Also, like SCmom mentioned, if the student is involved in a lot of activities, or activities that take up a lot of time, the activities pretty much eliminate the student from being able to utilize their meals plans a lot. The upside is that some student activities will result in meals being provided for free (like marching band and I would assume all athletics).</p>
<p>Also fairly often they offer free food or specials, I believe you can find those on the foodservice facebook page.</p>
<p>Next semester all of my son’s classes except for one will be in the same building, which is across the street from Wendy’s. He will also be living in an apartment with a kitchen. I am expecting him probably to eat breakfast at his apartment, lunch will frequently be at Wendy’s, and his supper will most likely be at all-you-can-eat traditional college cafeteria that I believe is in Bates West (he’s in the marching band which practices to 6pm 4 days a week and Bates West is next to the bandroom). So I really don’t expect him to eat more than 5 meals a day at any of the school dining facilities.</p>
<p>Also, you may want to consider the location of the dining facilities to the dorm room, and the style of dorm room. With my son staying in an apartment style dorm with a kitchen, I am sure thats part of the reason he didn’t eat as many meals as some others might. And, there is no school dining facility in less than a five minute (or longer) walk. I would imagine that if one was living in a traditional (no kitchen) dorm that had a dining facility in it that one would eat on campus more often.</p>
<p>The VIP system does allow one to monitor meal swipes. I’m thinking my son will be getting the smallest meal plan that they offer.</p>
<p>astoria, I know that you aren’t asking me, but before my son started at USC we had an agreement that if his grades drop (as in loosing either of his scholarships) that he would come back to our hometown to go to college (we have 7 colleges in our county). </p>
<p>He’s making good (enough) grades, so I assume he must be liking it enough to want to continue at USC.</p>
<p>^Yeah. I keep having people ask me why I don’t go to one of those seven colleges and live at home. USC is worth it in my opinion though. I love it here.</p>
<p>I had 16+ first semester and used about 14 swipes a week. This semester, I decided to move down to 14 and figured I didn’t need the extra bonus bucks since I’d be considered a sophomore and would get $100 anyways. Now, I use about 16 swipes a week and am almost out of bonus bucks.</p>
<p>Personally, I think 16 is good the first semester. You get bonus bucks which are incredibly useful. Almost anything good at USC goes over the meal plan. For example, I love the Colloquium, Einsteins, and Pandinis, but I can’t ever eat at any of those places and get a drink (even if it’s water) without going over the meal plan. That’s where bonus bucks come into handy. It also allows you to have money just in case you run out of swipes.</p>
<p>If your child isn’t using all of his or her swipes for meals, then they can at least go to Russell and buy sodas and/or snacks for their dorm.</p>
<p>Astoria22,
Daughter loves USC and is a very happy honors student</p>
<p>notrichenough,
If you think the traditional plans are bad, look at flex (not available for freshmen). No way is that a good deal. Basically I think most people are better off with cash unless you want to be sure your student is spending money on food and not other things. Or is you have a ravenous boy who will go over to Bates to the all-you-can eat option…then the meal plan may be good. Breakfast is the best deal…any five items for one swipe. So you can get grits, eggs, bacon, juice, bagel for example OR (as my child sometimes did) 5 individual containers of cereal that she used the rest of the week. Of course breakfast is also cheapest to eat in room :)</p>
<p>Also, the meals are worth certain value and if you go over that, you pay the difference with bonus bucks, carolina cash or cash. Problem is that’s not hard to do. While there is also something offered at the value price, very hungry kids will go over, especially with soft drinks. Even if you just go over by .50 at each meal it can add up over the semester</p>
<p>Fortunately I have a D who does not eat that much. Doesn’t drink soda either. 
</p>
<p>Except for bacon - that five item breakfast might very well be 4 bacons and a juice.</p>
<p>Are only some of the dining halls all-you-can-eat? I was under the impression that it was only the fast-food-like ones that you got a meal of certain size and that is it.</p>
<p>We’ll probably do the 16+ for the first semester and then see how it goes.</p>
<p>^I’ve never ever had someone overcharge me at breakfast. That is the one time where you can get away with more than five items.</p>
<p>The only all-you-can-eat dining hall that I know of is Bates and I’ve never eaten there personally.</p>
<p>Russell House downstairs is not all-you-can-eat and that’s the main food center.</p>
<p>^Ah, well that would explain why the dining plans are so cheap.</p>
<p>Luckily my D is unlikely to ever want or need more than one plate of food.</p>
<p>I think Bates is the only all you can eat, which even my not ravenous daughter likes sometimes because you can get a taste of lots of things. At most places there is a value meal that fits into the swipe amount…something like $6.49 at lunch (don’t hold me to that). It will be a meat and side or salad and roll plus drink or something…there are examples on dining site. Or you can buy a la carte but if total goes over swipe amount, you pay the difference. Most “fast food” outlets on campus also have a deal that fits a swipe. For a girl, it’s probably enough, if like mine you only drink water with meals.</p>
<p>Bates is the only all-you-can-eat. But scmom12 is right in saying that a lot of places have “Value Meal Deals”. For example, you can get a sandwich, chips/side salad, fruit/cookie, and a drink and that will fit on your meal plan. Each meal time has a different allotted amount. I always forget what breakfast is, but lunch is $5.89 and dinner is $6.29.</p>
<p>Thanks, this is great info.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t always suggest water.</p>
<p>The system can over-charge you if you get water. I’ve gone over my meal swipe three times this year by getting water instead of soda or a tea.</p>
<p>They charge you 23 cents for water, so if you get a meal deal, a drink usually comes with it. In that case, if the cashier punches in that you got water instead of a fountain drink or tea, then the system will sometimes not count that as a drink, but count it as extra. I don’t know why. It must just be some funk in the system.</p>
<p>It’s really tricky and you just kind of have to experiment with it. I know at upstairs Russel, I have just now gotten in the habit of asking for them to charge it as a soda so I don’t go over.</p>
<p>Are the “cafes” considered cafeterias to swipe for if you have a traditional meal plan?</p>
<p>Yes, I think there are something like 14 different places on campus that you can use your meal plan. That includes Colloquium Cafe, Honors College Cafe, & Gibbes Court Bistro (and any others I forgot). In addition, there are a number of fast food places on campus that use meal plans (Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Einstein Bagels, etc).</p>
<p>The dining map lists 25 separate locations:</p>
<p><a href=“Carolina Food Co. - Carolina Food Co. | University of South Carolina”>Carolina Food Co. - Carolina Food Co. | University of South Carolina;
<p>I think there is a convenience store place at one of quads and ice cream place in Russell that don’t take meal swipes…would have to use carolina cash. Others, including chick fil a and einstein bagels take meal swipes, bonus bucks or cash. Of course things might be different in the fall, but I think that’s how it is now.</p>