<p>What plan is most economical and smart? The dorms I applied to don't require them, but shouldn't I get one because it's not like I have a kitchen in my room...and I can't afford to just go out to eat everyday (plus thats really unhealthy). Any advice from a parent, student, or future student?</p>
<p>If you can afford to pay for a meal plan, you can afford to eat out. In the long run, it’s cheaper to not get a meal plan if you don’t have to get one.</p>
<p>yeah thats what i was thinking because i dont mind buying food and cooking it myself. its going to be a lot of ramen noodles though.</p>
<p>There isn’t kitchens in the room though, I can’t cook; thats the point. And its too unhealthy to eat out every single day, thats ridiculous. Which of the meal plans is most economical?</p>
<p>palmbeach-you’ll get tired of ramen after a week, trust me.</p>
<p>futurenole-they have kitchens on every floor. Unhealthy to eat out everyday? You think the dining halls are healthy? Think again. I’m not trying to make it sound like a meal plan is a bad decision, but the food at the dining halls are repetitive and get boring after a couple of months. </p>
<p>I suggest you get the unlimited meal plan if you are adamant about one.</p>
<p>Can’t you just buy dining hall meals for not much more than the per meal price of a plan? (I’m asking – not a rhetorical question). If so, you could eat in the dining hall to load up on salad and protein at lunch or dinner and eat cheerios and yogurt for breakfast. Just a thought.</p>
<p>The 150 meals per semester is very flexible. Some days/weeks you might eat on the plan more and some days/weeks you might eat out more. You get flexbucks for einsteins and the on campus fast food places, and can use flexbucks at the on campus store. During exam times and midterms, being able to walk in and eat without worrying about groceries or cooking is great. There are 15 academic weeks in a semester, plus finals. That is about 10 meals a week. But they never expire until the end of the semester (unlike the 7 meals a week–after that week if you ate NO meals you still lost all 7). And if you have flexbucks left at the end of fall they roll over to spring IF YOU RENEW A MEAL PLAN. If not, just go to the store and use up the bucks buying water or soda or nonperishable food.</p>
<p>What if you don’t get a meal plan, can you still go to suwanee and just pay with cash or normal money?</p>
<p>yeah you should be able to because i ate there when i visited this summer. this has to be the hardest thing for me, being italian and my mom making awesome food all the time. oh well.</p>
<p>^ lol, I feel the same way, except my mom is black so I’ll be missing out on the soul food (yes, cornbread included). :(</p>
<p>HAHA! I don’t care what I eat really, as long as it tastes somewhat good and is cheap. I’m not too picky.</p>
<p>yeah you both have an advantage over me.</p>
<p>dnerd: tally is in the south so atleast that ties in and you might be able to find something similar to home cooking.</p>
<p>cory: i wish i was able to feel more like that. i can do it for a while but then i just need something real good.</p>
<p>oh well atleast i’ll have something to look forward to when i come home.</p>
<p>I am a pretty healthy eater and I wouldn’t eat the unhealthy food every day. I would eat the salads and soups and stuff. Plus I run a lot. But yeah, my dad was talking about getting me the 10 meals per week plan, but 150 meals a semester is pretty much the same thing, but cheaper with more flex bucks. Where all can flex bucks be used? Can they be used at off campus eateries? When I was in Tallahassee I saw a lot of food places that said “use FSU card here”…so I don’t know that that means but yeah. And what is the currency of a flex buck? (Meaning what is its worth in regards to a regular dollar)…and how could I find out the rates?</p>
<p>the currency rate is the same…you can put money into your felxbucks account should it become low…</p>
<p>as for off campus eateries, i have no idea</p>
<p>ooooo! so its the same…its like getting a gift card with money i can ONLY use on campus?</p>
<p>I’m noticing that the 125 block plan (with $300 flex bucks) plus a 30 meal reload is actually one dollar less than the 150 block plan (with $300 flex bucks). Five more meals for one less dollar. These are fall prices.</p>
<p>I’m thinking that this is what my son will do. He’s waffling between this and the unlimited (he’s a snacker).</p>
<p>Your FSU card is your FSU ID that you have the option of linking to a FREE SUNTRUST bank account and if you do, it becomes your Suntrust DEBIT card. Off campus shops and eateries and shops at the mall will let you use your debit card to pay for purchases and that money comes out of your Suntrust Bank account.</p>
<p>Flexbucks are loaded on the same card, but tracked separately. You can use your Flexbucks card to pay for food and sundries at on campus places (all the food places in the union including Chili’s, Starbucks, Meso, Hardees, Einsteins, etc etc) and at the Park Ave Diner, and the Starbucks kiosks at the bookstore and library, etc. </p>
<p>Still on the card but separate from both those is a smart chip. You load that at machines in your dorm, and around campus with $1 or $20 etc. You then swipe your card to pay for laundry, soda machines, copy machines and campus printing centers. </p>
<p>Your flexbucks are safe even if you loose the card, your bank account is protected even if you look your card (read the fine print and report it immediately) but the smart chip is that, a chip that is tracked no where else but on your card. So don’t load more than $20 on the card at a time because if you loose the card, you lost all your chip money you loaded (ie the person who “finds it” can use it up.)</p>
<p>Flex bucks are used $1 for $1 at on campus eateries. If you use your card as a debit card ON CAMPUS, it will use up your flex bucks first and only if you have no flexbucks will they ask you if you want to pay for it, and then you use your PIN and it is used like cash out of your debit Suntrust account. Seems confusing. IT IS NOT. It is VERY HANDY. Anywhere IN TOWN OR OUT OF TOWN that has a PIN pad and accepts debit cards will take your FSU card as payment if it is linked to your Suntrust Acct. And if you have money in it.</p>
<p>do you know if the debit card portion of the FSU card can be linked to a pre-existing SunTrust account?</p>
<p>Very few people use their FSU ID as a debit card since all Suntrust checking accounts come with a free VISA check card.</p>
<p>As for block meal plans, one word: AVOID.</p>
<p>The “best value” is the 150 block plan for $1690. It includes 300 dollars in flex bucks, so ultimately, you are paying $1,390 for 150 meals, or $9.26+ per meal. Using garnet bucks, dinner costs $9.39 per meal while lunch costs $7.39. The 125 block comes to 9.43+ per meal; an OBVIOUS ripoff.</p>
<p>The meal membership web page has been updated in the last few days. A week or so ago I was looking at it and I noticed that they listed each different meal plan with a calculation of how much per day these meal plans came out to. I know it wasn’t as high as they seem to be now. The old page is not available anymore, but I thought it was something like $9+ a DAY, not a meal. At least the 30 meal reload is only $7 a meal, but you have to buy the higher price 125 meal plan initially.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be sexist, but these prices seem to make more sense if you are a guy with a big appetite. I don’t know any girls that eat that much! I still order kids meals in restaurants when the servers allow me to. I have only been refused one time (at a Chili’s), and even then they still let me get the kids meal but wouldn’t include the drink (fine with me, I only drink water!) Many of those restaurants specify that kids meals are for age 10 or 12 and younger, but the servers don’t seem to care!</p>
<p>It bothers me that if you use your plan to buy lunch you are paying more than if you pay with cash. This really is a ripoff! Since I want to live in Landis, I guess I will have to overpay for my meal plan. But this sure seems like it would be promoting overeating. You would think a university would be trying to reverse the obesity problem in this country, not add to it!</p>