Meal Plan

So I was looking at the Miami Meal Plan and I was questioning whether it was worth it to get it.

The meal plan gives a 30% discount at all Miami Restaurants, but the catch is you have to pay the $1,725 meal plan assessment fee. So let’s say I eat $1,500 Diplomat Dollars worth of food per semester.

With the meal plan total cost = 1500 + 1725 = $3225
Without Meal Plan = (10/7) * 1500 (no 30% discount) = $2142.86

Seems like it would be in my best interest to not get a meal plan and just pay in cash. Are there any other benefits to the meal plan that may be worth spending an extra 1k?

60% off at buffet locations
30% off at à la carte locations and markets

But I agree, this meal plan is really confusing and choosing which level to purchase is tough for us first years. Guess what we don’t know is how much is a typical meal (either before or after discount)? $5, $10?

Regardless, for any meal price it seems that just paying in cash would save a whole lot of money.

If you’re mostly using the buffet locations, then $1,500 dining dollars would equate to $4,000 cash. Correct?

I can tell you that the average price of meals at the restaurants in the Armstrong Student Center will set you back around 7-9 bucks a meal. There you can find a Chipotle-like place, a pizza place that delivers, a Panera-like sandwich and bakery place (great cinnamon rolls for about $2), a 50’s-style diner/burger joint (both this and the bakery have breakfast stuff in the $3-7 range), a Starbucks/ice cream stand, and my personal favorite, a Mongolian stir fry grill. Those are the non-discounted prices. The student center is a really nice facility, by the way. My son does PSEO classes on the Oxford campus and I frequently park myself in Armstrong to work while I’m waiting for him.

@finselmom Do you still get the 30% discount at all restaurants in the Armstrong Student Center? On Miami’s website, it says there is a 30% discount at à la carte locations and markets, but it describes the diner that you mentioned as “restaurant style”.

I’m afraid I’m not sure of that. I know that students do use their cards with the meal plan information on it, but I don’t know the details of how the system deals with that because we’re not on the meal plan. I’m pretty sure students get at least some kind of a discount, given the numbers of people I see eating there. Miami takes its food pretty seriously – they even have their own food truck that roams the campus frequently!

Unfortunately, if you live in the dorms, you must do the Diplomat meal plan. No cash option allowed. See here: http://blogs.miamioh.edu/dining/meal-plans/diplomat-meal-plan/

Fortunately, there are lots of options and the food is good when compared to other colleges or a high school cafeteria. In addition to the required assessment fee, I placed the full $1800 on my daughter’s account for her first semester. She used a bit under a $1000 of it during Fall semester. Since what you don’t use each semester carries over to the next semester, I placed a lot less into her account. Still have to pay the full assessment fee each semester, however. Once you move off campus, I believe you can continue to spend down your balance or have it moved to your student debit account (called MuLAA), so there should never be a point you lose the meal money you put in.

To answer @tdk992, all of the Armstrong Center restaurants get the 30% discount.