<p>I see that Meal Plan Points cost between $1.31 and $1.50 per point depending on the plan selected. Bear Bucks are $1 per Buck. When buying food on campus, are Points and Bucks treated equally or would a meal cost, for example, 7 Bear Bucks but only 6 points? Thanks for the insight.</p>
<p>Food costs the same amount of points regardless of whether it’s meal points or Bear Bucks, but meal points and Bear Bucks differ in actual monetary value, as you have noted. For this reason, you should always buy the smallest meal plan possible.</p>
<p>The way it is set up is so that the bronze/silver/gold meal plans have the same up front cost ($1266 for next semester), and then points are added in a 1-1 ratio to dollars. Additionally, you can add more points with a 1-1 cost. The reason to get the smallest plan is the fact that meal points can expire if not used by the deadline. You can always add more though, so the smallest plan is recommended to prevent wasting meal points - and thereby wasting money.</p>