<p>Can a student fill us in on the new dining venues/menus/pricing?</p>
<p>I understand that students can use swipes at more venues now? Are the meal combinations available with swipes actually a good value? I know my daughter had way too many swipes last semester with the 175 meal plan, and planned to drop down to the 150 plan. At first, I thought maybe she should not, if she could use swipes at Subway and the line, but then I noticed that the 100 meal plan (6 meals/week) cost $600 less than the 150 plan. That made me think students might be better off paying cash for lunches. I doubt my daughter ever spends $12 on lunch. </p>
<p>I suppose it depends on whether she and her friends prefer to go to TDR or elsewhere.</p>
<p>How much does it cost to just pay for entry to TDR?</p>
<p>My son (sophomore) tells us that dinner at TDR is now $14.00. This year he opted for the smallest meal plan (75 swipes). As I had found out from Housing & Dining last year, if he uses those 75 up then he can easily upgrade at any time during the semester to the next level (100 swipes) and pay the $277 difference between the 2 plans. If then he uses up the 100, he could then upgrade to the next level (150), but that probably would not be worth paying $586.00 since he probably wouldn’t use all 150 up. Basically everyone should always start with the smallest plan and then just upgrade when necessary and when appropriate.</p>
<p>Just read the following on the Dining Services Facebook page:</p>
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<p>At first, I thought that, if swipes roll over, it made sense to buy a higher plan because the incremental price goes down as the plans go up. But, when I thought about it, I realized, it still makes no sense. If you had a bunch left over at the end of the semester, why would you buy the same plan or higher the following semester?</p>