<p><em>Sorry if this has already been asked</em></p>
<p>I wanted to ask y'all what you thought the best meal plan option would be fore people living on campus. I was thinking I would eat two meals provided by a&m and one on my own a day.
I have narrowed it down to these two option:</p>
<p>I am definitely not the expert on this. My child will live on campus some where on the north side. This is her choice of meal plans as well as well as the reasoning which means it may or may not make sense to you but it does to her.</p>
<p>She asked to have the 30 meals/$800 dining dollars. She said she would only eat the “full” meal in Sbisa every once in a while because it is an all you can eat buffet and she didn’t want to overeat. She is a pretty routine person when it comes to meals like breakfast and lunch. She likes cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. She thought that it would be a waste of money to buy a meal at Sbisa just for cereal when she can have that in her dorm room. Since she will have her car on campus she can go to the grocery store when needed or she can just go to one of the little stores on campus. There is one behind Sbisa on the north side of campus and one in the Commons on the south side. If your child won’t have a car and would like to go to the grocery store or mall or just about anywhere, the shuttle bus is a great and convenient option. The dining dollars would allow her to eat at other places on campus other than the dining halls. Plus, if she did use up her 30 meals she can use her dining dollars to purchase a meal. </p>
<p>You can rollover dining dollars to the next semester but you can’t roll over the meals. You can convert the meals to dining dollars. Read over all the rules and restrictions before making your final decision. </p>
<p>I would rather not have enough meals/dining dollars and add to them later than to spend money and then lose it later because we over did our meal estimates. I think our perfect option (which is not available) would be to have 50 meals and $500 dining dollars.</p>
<p>A lot of my friends had a lot of dining dollars/meal plans leftover. I went with 30 meals/$400 and I barely used all of it. Go with the 150 meals/$150 Dining Dollars Plan or something lower to make it cheaper on you.</p>
<p>aggiemomintexas - If your daughter is living on North side, she can pretty much do her grocery shopping at Rattlers (by Underground/Sbisa) or the gas station nearby. There are a lot of options to eat on University Dr. So she might not buy meals/use dining dollars as often. Or at least that’s what I did.</p>
<p>You can always add more, but cannot take away. So, pick the least amount and add if needed. S2 will be Junior coming Fall and still stay on campus Honor Dorm. Regardless of how many students complains about the food. It is very convenient especially if you have mid term, final, lab work and paper due. My S don’t worry about food that much. When he has left over fund, he just treat his classmates to the less fortunate and they appreciate the gestures.</p>
<p>You are allowed to rollover up to $100 Dining Dollars per semester with the purchase of another meal plan (within the academic year). So, don’t get too many dining dollars either.</p>
<p>Xcellerator, you barely used 30 meals? There are about 15 weeks of school, so you averaged LESS than 2 meals per week at the cafeteria?? Why?? Was the food terrible?</p>
<p>^ Lol. The food was not terrible. Sbisa had average tasting food. Never went to South side much. I really like the Underground so I spent most of my dining dollars/meal plants there. I also had tons of food that my parents keep me stocking up in fridge/pantry. I also eat outside at places like Antonio’s Pizza and Subway…</p>
<p>I would prefer not to eat a lot of unhealthy food, so I thought maybe the cafeteria is healthier than easting out. If I am wrong, please let me know.</p>
<p>Divide the meal plan cost by the number of meals and you can arrive at a cost per meal.
The value of that meal will depend on personal habits, appetite, and hopefully exercise habits. Some folks like to go out to eat as entertainment. Note that there is a 10% discount built-in on the two most expensive plans.</p>
<p>You can choose healthy or unhealthy food at Sbisa. You can choose healthy or unhealthy when eating a local restaurant. </p>
<p>Aggie Bucks don’t exist anymore. Dining Dollars can only be used in limited places on campus.</p>
<p>Personal experience: Son eats only 2 meals per day. For him, Breakfast is a waste of money. He requires a huge amount of healthy food, so Sbisa worked well for him. The cost per meal was reasonable. Sbisa was also a huge time saver since he lived on the north part of campus.</p>
<p>My son walked by, and here is a rough transcription of how he answered the question.</p>
<p>While Sbisa (the north dining hall) will not win any “best cuisine” awards, but they have a huge amount of variety. Son eats the same meal only a couple to times per semester. He has favorites like cookies and the Asian area. Every day the carve roast turkey. On weekends, they have a “bountifulness” of fruit. If you got tired of Sbisa, your meal vouchers are accepted at Bernie’s Cafe and the Underground Food Court. Both are in the same building.</p>
<p>S2 choose this for his meal plan for 2nd yr. He say that is about right. When he is very hungry, he use meals. If not he use dining dollars. Or just get the Maroon plate. Obviously he still eats off campus like weekends and out with friends occasionally. We the parents actually visited S2-4X last 2 yrs and each time we ate at least once in the cafeteria. The food is not great, but is not bad. Just pick what you like, and quite a variety to choose from. Those that say they cannot find anything to eat, are picky eater. Obviously if you eat there daily may get boring, but I still think it is better to eat FAST food with heavy calorie, or TV dinner. Most college students are not good cook, imagine that. Are you going to pay them to eat fancy restaurant food daily? Even that, many are high in fat, or loaded with Carbohydrate.</p>