Does anyone have a recommendation about which of these would be the best way to go for a student freshman year? We were planning on the 19 meals/week, but apparently the 14 meals/week plus Meal Plan Dollars is the most popular—how come? What do students typically do for the “missing” meals on the 14 meals/week plan?
@Planner Kids could miss breakfast easily if they study until really late. I think Meal Plan Dollars give them some flexibility. They could use them for breakfast or late night snack. My kid prefers 14 meals/week plus Meal Plan Dollars. But I think the meal plan can also be changed anytime.
Yes, the 14 meals/week plus meal plan dollars worked best for our kid. Mainly because his dining hall wasn’t open for breakfast past 9am, and he often missed it. Instead, the meal plan dollars can be used at Munger Market that sells general amenities/goceries, The Axe and Palm, thht serves burgers and shakes… and Late Nite which is open til 2:30 in the morning for late night food.
Agree with others. DS went with 14 meals + dollars. I asked a couple of times if wanted to up it to 19 meals, and he said no. You have the option to change the plan if your initial choice needs to be altered. Saturdays and Sundays only serve two meals (brunch and dinner), so 19 meals means every single meal is covered. Ds usually did not go go breakfast. I included breakfast bars, granola bars, etc. in care packages.
Thanks very much, everyone—the 14 meals/week plus Meal Plan Dollars definitely seems like the way to go! I can imagine that making it to breakfast before 9 might be hard sometimes!
If the meal plan is “all you can eat” and the Dollars are included, 2 meals per day should be fine. My son went for a 15 meal plan at his college with $500 of “flex dollars” he can use a bunch of places on and near campus, and get a discount.
Another factor is that my son’s dorm’s dining hall does not offer lunch (though other dining halls do), and breakfast is pretty early for his schedule. So I can see him going out of his way to have lunch and then staying at his dining hall for dinner.
Hi @Planner. How do you know about the meal plan? I have received nothing from Stanford about this or even a bill. Thank you.
@myyalieboy - can’t address the correspondance between @Planner and Stanford, but you won’t receive a bill until much closer to September. I think it is late August. It’s rather disconcerting, isn’t it? You send in that mere $200 deposit and know what is looming, but nothing comes.
I can’t remember how we did it, but there is a way that the student “allows” the parent to have access to the billing office through their Stanford account. I think it’s a FERPA thing. That way, bills (via e-mail) come directly to parents (dh and I both receive statements as ds put both of us on the allowed list).
@myyalieboy Sorry for the delay in responding—I was out of town. I found out about the meal plan on Stanford’s site—here’s the link:
https://web.stanford.edu/dept/rde/cgi-bin/drupal/dining/undergraduate-meal-plans
And here’s an FAQ page about the plans:
https://web.stanford.edu/dept/rde/cgi-bin/drupal/dining/faq
We haven’t received anything yet either about this, but I’m sure we will!
Some of this can be tied to the dorm you are assigned to and how the attached dining hall works in terms of open hours. In a lot of cases, if the associated hall is not convenient for breakfast, you end up skipping it because you dont have the time to go over to some other place to eat and then make it to class.
@Planner Look like “14 Meal per Week + 420 Meal Plan Dollars per year” will allow a student to eat only about 10 weeks’ breakfast everyday from Monday to Friday while “19 Meal per week” will allow a student to eat 30 weeks’ breakfasts. Each breakfast costs $8 if Meal Plan Dollars are used. So if a student can eat 2 or more breakfasts per week, 19 Meal plan is a better choice.
Thanks, @texaspg and @hmsy15! I haven’t looked into whether or not students will find out which dorm they’re in before they have to select a meal plan, but it sounds like that would be useful information. And for students who are in a dorm with a convenient dining hall (and who manage to get up in time for breakfast most mornings!), it looks like the 19 meals/week would be a much better deal—thanks again, @hmsy15!
As a current Stanford student, I suggest going with the 14 meals/week plan. It gives you so much more flexibility; for example, one of my friends on the 19 meals/week plan always felt guilty when she went off-campus to eat or went to Late Night with us since it was extra money for her and she was wasting a dining hall meal (and Late Night, in my opinion, is such a great/significant social experience, esp. freshman year). Also, you can very easily change your meal plan up to 7 weeks into the quarter, so I suggest starting with 14 and then if you feel you need to, you can change it to 19.
Thanks for the help everyone.
Thanks, @orangekid77—this sounds like a good plan, and I’m glad there’s so much flexibility in terms of being able to change the plan if necessary later on!