<p>My sophomore son has been on campus for 6 weeks. He’s visited the dining halls a total of 2 times, both in August. I wish we would have gone the no meal plan route, which I had debated doing but wanted son not to feel like he couldn’t go to the dining hall if he chose. Live and learn. </p>
<p>On the positive side, he and his RM are doing a very successful “Taste of T-town” tour, with an emphasis on burgers. And I get to verify son’s alive when the occasional credit card charge appears.</p>
<p>Class2012, your post made me check the meal plan activity, and while my D has been to the dining hall several times more than your S, she’s not on track to use all of her meals. And this is the girl who was horrified when I suggested the 55 meal plan and thought she needed the all access plan again. I’m sure she’d happily eat in the dining halls a couple times every day (she likes the food!), but I suspect it’s all about where the friends are eating.</p>
<p>^ We can check meal plan activity?</p>
<p>^ Yes, for plans other than the unlimited</p>
<p><a href=“https://actioncard-sp.blackboard.com/eaccounts/AnonymousHome.aspx[/url]”>https://actioncard-sp.blackboard.com/eaccounts/AnonymousHome.aspx</a></p>
<p>On the left there will be two sections - 10 guest meals are carved out of the chosen meal plan, so those appear separately. Mine has 10 guest and 43 regular remaining.</p>
<p>You can click on Board Transactions to see where and when they swiped</p>
<p>figure out how many meals he needs to eat at the dining hall to use the plan you bought. </p>
<p>he might eat there some if he feels like he is going to run out of eating out money.</p>
<p>we got 90 for soph year. i think she used them all. not sure. </p>
<p>best plan is to choose a small plan, then up it if you need to.</p>
<p>looks like he has enough for about 1 meal a day on campus.</p>
<p>maybe he could eat breakfast or lunch on campus and dinners out?</p>
<p>So far D is right on track with the 90 plan. She eats either lunch or dinner in the dining hall and will have enough meals left during finals to eat all her meals there if she doesn’t want to bother cooking.</p>
<p>This is really helpful! DD is a freshman on the Greek 55, and so far (other than the meals during Recruitment) she has used a total of 2 meal swipes and $50 in dining dollars. I guess we will be discussing having no meal plan at all next year.</p>
<p>I was sharing to be helpful, not to complain that we may waste money. I never ever would have thought that my son would have used so few swipes in 6 weeks. Son doesn’t eat breakfast ever and much prefers Subway for lunch over Lakeside food. He and his RM have also been grocery shopping and doing a bit of cooking (if making meatball subs using Sams Club frozen meatballs is called cooking).</p>
<p>^^ I would assume they have to thaw/heat the meatballs and add sauce, right? That is definitely cooking. If they just put the frozen meatballs on a sub roll, that wouldn’t be cooking by my definition. And I’m sure the frozen goodies Mom took down for parents’ weekend has prevented a meal swipe or two.</p>
<p>Class2012Mom, thanks for the link. I just checked on DS and he has used it 18 times which is ALOT less than I thought. Some days he went to the cafetaria twice (I can see he loves Bryant for lunch) and then he may go 3 or 4 days without going at all. I have no regrets getting him the bigger plan as he might go more often when the colder/rainier weather begins, but this definitely surprised me. I definitely will encourage him to go “shopping” at the cafeteria and bring home some cereal, fruit etc. to have in his dorm refrig.</p>
<p>Beth’s mom, not only do they warm the meatballs and add sauce, but they make garlic bread and then melt cheese. Awww, my baby IS cooking. </p>
<p>And yes, the 10 quarts of frozen spaghetti sauce has helped. He’s using his [Amazon.com:</a> Fasta Pasta The Microwave Cooker: Kitchen & Dining](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Fasta-Pasta-The-Microwave-Cooker/dp/B000YT2XOI]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Fasta-Pasta-The-Microwave-Cooker/dp/B000YT2XOI) to make the noodles in the dorm, which is working well. </p>
<p>Kjcphmom, cold and rainy weather is here where you and I are, not where they are! It’s always sunny in Tuscaloosa.</p>
<p>^^^^Its always sunny in Tuscaloosa???..not what my S told me last year! Now if you said it was always Awesome in Tuscaloosa, I would probably agree.</p>
<p>When looking at my son’s statement earlier today, I didn’t see that it only listed part of September and none of August so he actually used his meal plan MUCH more than I reported in my previous post (and closer to what I expected.) Now I am definitely glad we went with the plan that we did as it looks like he is going to Bryant for lunch almost every week day.</p>
<p>My DD is on track to use all of her 55 (thanks to Mom2012). I originally planned on the 90 plan. Glad I mad the change.</p>
<p>I will be the mom hosting the CC party at Lakeside, swiping you all in on Move Out Day.</p>
<p>^^lol!!!</p>
<p>I figured out a couple of weeks ago that I should have listened to C2012M back in August! I’ve been encouraging D to pick up the pace on her swipes and it looks like she has.</p>
<p>it will be a super small party since you can only swipe in one guest!! :)</p>
<p>Last move-out son swiped in a bunch of us parents using his guests meals. There were at least 4 of us. Maybe we weren’t supposed to do that (???) but it worked.</p>
<p>I too am having meal plan hindsight. My son lives at the lofts and insisted that he would be eating on campus. He has only swiped 4 times and prefers to eat in the campus center with friends. I purchased the bama55 and I realize that this semester is water under the bridge but it is my understanding that I will be forced to make the same error again next semester. Do you think they would put the value of the plan in dining dollars? My son would use it then. Does anyone else have experience with this?</p>