<p>I could use some advice from the experienced. My freshman daughter will be living on campus (in fact, right next door to Sbisa) and I expect her to eat a fair number of meals there. But she'll also be doing some activities off campus several times a week and I suspect those will involve some fast-food stops; she'll also snack and probably eat breakfast in her room. And she just doesn't eat all that much. </p>
<p>So I'm not sure if the meal plan is the best option for her - would y'all still recommend one in this situation? </p>
<p>And if not - if she already has a debit card to her own bank account (where we'll be depositing her spending money) is there any reason to get the Aggie Bucks card too? I get the impression it's now just a regular debit card as well.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My advice: decide what you think is reasonable and go down one plan. You can always buy more at the end, but my son’s GF had some ridiculous number of meals left at the end. She was feeding 10 kids per meal during the last week just to use them up!</p>
<p>You can roll over some of the dollars to the next semester (maybe $100?), but you lose the meals if you don’t use them. Good luck!</p>
<p>30 meals/$400 Dining Dollars Plan: * $688 / semester </p>
<p><a href=“http://diningservices.tamu.edu/faq.stm#mealplans[/url]”>http://diningservices.tamu.edu/faq.stm#mealplans</a></p>
<p>S2 has been buying this every semester and add on as needed. Do this before you pay your bill by due date. The meal plan charge + taxes will be added to your bill.</p>
<p>Can I rollover meals or Dining Dollars?</p>
<p>Up to $100 Dining Dollars will rollover each semester, within the academic year (fall to spring and spring to summer), with the purchase of another meal plan. Meals do not rollover, however at the end of the semester your remaining meals will automatically be converted to Dining Dollars (one meal converts to $3 Dining Dollars) and will be put towards this rollover amount.</p>
<p>During the fall and spring semesters, rollover Dining Dollars will automatically download to your spring plan after the 4th week of classes when the add/drop period ends.</p>
<p>We never get the Aggie buck. 2 credit cards and 1 bank debit card are adequate. Too many cards is not good just in case they lost it. Also, too much upkeep and tracking etc. BTW, make sure you xerox front and back of all their cards including student ID, insurances and keep it at home. Often you will need the student ID for insurance purposes and if suspicious charge call from the financial agency, you will need that credit card# and security code.</p>
<p>A disadvantage with the regular debit (with no meal plan/Aggie Bucks) card is that if she wants to eat from Sbisa or get food from Rattlers/Underground, the food and things from are there are pretty expensive.</p>
<p>I am a senior and have run these economics each semester. Essentially, only the cheapest meal plan is worth buying, because the add-ons are a better value than the biggest meal plans. I calculated that even with the biggest meal plan, you are still paying $7.13/meal. You can buy add-ons for $70/10 meals ($7.00/meal). No-brainer.</p>
<p>Also, you will be more restricted with what you can buy with a “meal plan.” Many places offer 1 type of dish for a meal plan, and if you don’t feel liking having that, too bad. Finally, the value of most “meal plan” meals came out to $6-7 when you added up all the items a la carte, so it would make more sense to just use dining dollars.</p>
<p>Here is what I recommend and have done for the last 2 years: Buy the smallest meal plan with the most dining dollars (30/400 this year). Use meal plans only at Sbisa (since it costs the most). Use dining dollars everywhere else. Buy add-ons as needed.</p>