Hello, mom of a prefrosh here. We have questions about the meal plan. If my son gets the 16 meal plan, and I (or a friend) visits him, can he pay for our meals using one of the 16 credits? If he can’t, do I pay full price?
If he decides to go on the 12 meal plan but ends up needing more meals that week, how does he pay for those?
Some of the current students told him that if they have unused flex dollars, they buy candy with it before the flex expires. Besides food, what else can they use flex dollars for?
I am pretty sure he can’t buy meals for you with his points. But I have to say that as a parent who has visited their kid on campus a fair amount, we have never eaten in the dining hall – a parent visit is an opportunity for them to eat off campus, even if it is just a bagel in the village or driving to Chipotle. They really appreciate it!
My kid dropped to the 12 meal plan after a year. She supplements with occasional trips to Trader Joes’s – not sure she has ever needed extra meals, so we have not run into this.
I know the coffee shop takes the flex dollars. I think flex is only for food items, though – like they can’t use them in the bookstore.
@intparent Thanks! That’s a great point about eating off campus for a change of pace. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.
How does your D get to Trader Joe’s? Does she bike or walk there? What kinds of things does she get - microwavable meals? Does she have a microwave in her dorm room?
Also, is there a benefit to using Claremont Cash vs. a debit card? (I assume the campus eateries take debit cards.)
She just walks, it isn’t that far. There is a Vons that is a little further away – she has walked there. I think maybe they can get bikes from the rec department (don’t remember what it is called), but she hasn’t done that. In the summer there is a farmer’s market in Claremont that she goes to as well (might be useful info in the future, as lots of Mudders research on campus for the summer, and they cook for themselves). Most of the dorms have some kind of kitchen facilities – either by suite, or I think maybe there are more central ones in the dorms that aren’t suite-style. There is a microwave in those kitchens, and stove, etc. She had a minifridge in her room her first year (wasn’t in a suite). Honestly, during the school year she has a lot of granola bars, tea, and dried fruit. She likes to bake, so in her suite she keeps stuff needed for that now. She isn’t a big breakfast eater anyway in spite of all my years to encourage it as “the most important meal of the day”. In the summer she does more “real” grocery shopping – eggs, bread, cheese, sandwich stuff, etc., and goes to the farmer’s market a lot.
I am not sure about the benefits of Claremont cash, although that is what my kid uses, I think. I do know that I have worried about debit card use – if someone swipes your debit card, they can empty your bank account. A credit card has more formal protections if the number is stolen. So I got one of our cards in her name, and she uses that when she needs a card for something. I just settle it monthly (can see on the statement what went on the card she is using), and I take money out of her bank account for stuff she is supposed to buy herself (we have a joint checking account). So she only uses her “debit card” at the ATM when she needs cash (bank near campus). I don’t usually see coffee shop charges on campus on the card, so I think she is using the Claremont cash that she loads on periodically. (That I do see on the credit card bill). I admit that I haven’t paid a lot of attention to it, though – maybe she is buying candy with her flex dollars at the end of the month! I remember hearing the kids joke about treating their dates or friends if they have flex at the end of the month.
If you go to orientation (which I highly encourage), I know you will be able to ask questions about it. My kid went with the credit card, her debit/ATM card, and some checks. She hardly uses the checks (maybe a couple of times in 3 years).
I think I was convinced before she went that she would starve, the meal plan didn’t seem sufficient. It has worked out fine. She went down to the 12 meal plan in sophomore year, gets a few more flex dollars every month (she asked me if she could do that, and I was okay with it), and still appears healthy when I see her.
If you decide to check out the dining hall your son can swipe you in. It won’t come out of his 16 (or 12 meals) but rather from his flex money. The cost is a discounted price than what you would pay cash. My kids have swiped us in on occasion (though I agree with intparent, it’s nice to take them off campus) and they’ve swept in their off campus friends who’ve come to visit them. If you do go to the dining hall you definitely want him to swipe you in, it’s much cheaper than paying cash.
If he goes with the 12 meal plan and needs more he can use his flex to buy his own meal (the same way he can buy yours). At Mudd (unlike the rest of the 5C’s) the flex portion is a weekly allocation. So it’s use it or lose it each week. At the other 5C’s it’s over the semester, so my D (at Scripps) ends up trying to spend what’s left at the end of the semester while my S (at Mudd) has to try using it up each week. Usually this means buying something at the Starbucks or at Jay’s Place.
I think the benefit of Claremont cash is simply that it’s right there on your ID which you always have with you. There are merchants in town that accept it as payment as well.
Just to be clear Claremont Cash (money you add to their card) is different from Flex dollars (the additional dollars that are part of the meal plan). But from your posts, it appears you understand that.
I don’t know if this is true at Mudd, but at Pomona you need Claremont Cash to run the laundry machines. My D announced a few days ago that she was out of Claremont Cash and therefore would be doing no further laundry for the rest of the semester, lol. I told her that was silly since I know she has money left in her checking account that she can transfer onto her Claremont Cash account.
Yes, it is used for laundry. But for some reason most of the year the machines in my son’s dorm still used quarters, so he only recently required Claremont Cash. I don’t know if there are some more out there still using quarters or if his were the last.
If my S uses Claremont Cash to pay for his meals (or someone else’s) at the dining halls, would he still get the discounted price? Would anyone know exactly what those prices are?
Can he use Claremont Cash at the other 5C campus eateries?
What happens to Claremont Cash balances at the end of the year?
I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t get the discounted prices with Claremont Cash. The balance of Claremont Cash can be refunded upon graduation or withdrawal from the college (not at the end of the year). You can add more to the account on the website.
Only thing I’ll disagree with is the claim about expecting a kitchen. Drinkward, Sontag, Case, Linde and South have kitchens. The other four dorms lack a kitchen. Although if you really want a kitchen you can find a friend who lives in a dorm with a kitchen and use theirs.
Thanks for the helpful replies! Since there is no discounted price at the dining hall for Claremont Cash, is there any other benefit to having it other than laundry?
When we’re at orientation, I was thinking of getting a few gift cards to nearby (walkable) places like 21 Choices and sending them as surprises through the year. Do any of you have suggestions on popular places?
Like, I said, I don’t think so other than not having to carry a credit card or debit card to make purchases. It’s tied to the student ID card which the students always need with them, so it could me a tad more convenient. However, I don’t think my kids have used their Claremont Cash for anything except laundry.
I would put a small amount on it for laundry and then see how it goes.
@MuddMom A benefit of the Claremont Cash is that it is loaded onto the same card that has your ID/board plan/flex dollars. So it’s just one card to carry and keep track of.
I asked my Pomona D about this and she took time out of studying for finals to text this info (actually she welcomed the distraction, lol):
USES OF FLEX: Buying food at the hub, coop fountain, coop store, sagehen cafe, shakedown cafe, motley, muddhole (aka Jay’s Place) Honnold Cafe, other places on various 5c campuses; flexing yourself into a meal if you run out of swipes, flexing other students into meals when they’re out of swipes or forgot an ID; flexing non-students into meals. Flex cannot be used to buy non-food.
USES OF CLAREMONT CASH: Laundry, vending machines on campus, all purchases at the Huntley Bookstore (unless you use cash or a credit card), printing at the library, paying for Student Health Service charges (if not covered by the student health insurance), buying food or non-food at the campus stores including merchandise but also tissues, pencils, Advil, staples, some food at places in the village like Some Crust and 21 Choices.
D says that at dining halls, you can only use flex or your meal swipes, not Claremont Cash.
I don’t think you can underestimate the benefit of having everything on one card. My kid chronically forgets to take alternative forms of payment with her. My husband and I are constantly amazed that she has virtually no cash on her.
True, but she has gotten in the habit of carrying no cash. One time she invited a friend out to dinner in the village to treat the friend to a birthday dinner. Then when the bill came she realized all she had was her Pomona ID card and she had to borrow money from the friend to pay for dinner! Very embarrassing.
Also to the OP, remember flex expires at the end of the semester (use it or lose it) but Claremont Cash carries over.
@muddmom20, I did that for my D (got her gift cards freshman year, and gave her one a month). I tried to get them in amounts do she could take a friend, too. It was actually my high school graduation present to her. I still give her gift cards from some of the places at Xmas, too. But for several you have to go in person to get them, they won’t mail them.
I have given her Jamba Juice, Eureka!, that ice cream place (Bert & Rocky’s? Something like that…), The Cheese Cave (odd, but she likes it), Trader Joe’s, pie place (I Like Pie?), movie theater. Probably a few more, but those are the ones I can think of.
We have questions about the meal plan. If my son gets the 16 meal plan, and I (or a friend) visits him, can he pay for our meals using one of the 16 credits? If he can’t, do I pay full price?