Summer meal plan

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>I am a freshmen mechanical engineering major at a different university, not Alabama. However, I was accepted into the REU program here and will be at Alabama for 2 months over the summer. Housing is provided, they told me it would be at an on campus apartment and that it would have cooking facilities, but I don’t know any other details about it yet. They also said that since I will be treated like a university of Alabama student I will have the option of buying a meal plan for the summer. </p>

<p>Is a meal plan worth it? I know that at my school the food is terrible and meal plans are expensive, especially over the summer. If i were at my home university I wouldn’t bother with a summer meal plan. What can you tell me about the meal plans and the food at Alabama? Would it be better to not get a meal plan and make my own food at the apartment? </p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>Fresh Foods is a good option because there is a great variety but it isn’t open for dinner. I’m not familiar with the operation of the food court at the Ferg during the summer. D and her friends eat at Lakeside sometimes but only out of convenience. Do you know the name of the building where you’ll be living? You may do just as well with a combination of eating out, cooking, and paying as you go if you eat in the dining hall. There are many places on the strip where students enjoy eating or having food delivered to them on campus. There is also a Publix on campus. Welcome to the UA! Roll Tide!</p>

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<p>Our son is staying at UA for the summer and our plan is to just pay to put about $150 in bamabucks on his action card. This gives him the most flexibility to eat on campus when he wants while using the bamabucks for other purchases as well.</p>

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<p>No, don’t buy a meal plan. You don’t even need to put BamaCash on your ACT card (for meals, you may need it for laundry facilities and whatnot). All dining locations on-campus take cash and cards.</p>

<p>The summer hours for the Ferguson Center are pretty limited. Fresh Food Dining Hall and most of the restaurants in the Food Court close at 2 and don’t open for diner. I think the other two dining halls (Lakeside and Burke) don’t say open vary late for dinner either - they may close at 7. Your best bet will be to use your residence hall kitchen facilities to cook your own food and to venture out into the city if you feel like eating out (assuming you are bringing your own car - if not, there are plenty of option on the Strip, which is walking distance from campus)</p>

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<p>I don’t know the name of where I’ll be living, but they will be sending me more information as it gets closer to when the internship starts</p>

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<p>I hope you enjoy your stay at the UA!</p>

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<p>Gold and Blue…</p>

<p>I see that you’re a MechE major and a girl. Welcome to Bama this summer!</p>

<p>Don’t buy a meal plan now. Wait and see what the other REU kids are doing. If they have purchased meal plans and will USE them, then you can buy one.</p>

<p>The kids may eat at the Food Court at lunch…and that does NOT use a meal plan. </p>

<p>I can see kids MAYBE eating on campus for lunch, but not at other times. As Feeno mentions, the ‘open’ hours are very limited on campus during summers… mostly to accomodate the Bama Bound incoming frosh and summer school kids.</p>

<p>Since Bama has soooo many off-campus places to eat, I suspect that y’all will soon be wandering off campus. The Crimson Ride takes you to The Strip where there are many places to eat.</p>

<p>Both of my kids have done REU’s on other colleges’ campuses and rarely did they eat on campus. Summer offerings on campus are much smaller and kids want to “get out”. </p>

<p>Also, if Bama runs its REUs like some other schools do, they will have “weekend plans” away from campus…hikes, swim parties, bike rides, BBQ’s, etc. (I don’t know how Bama runs its REUs…anyone know??)</p>

<p>Find out if you’ll have access to the Rec Center.</p>

<p>Are you doing the REU with Dr. Lang as the PI?</p>

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<p>goldandblue92, Our son has been told his summer program (Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergrad Research) will be staying at Bryce Lawn Apartments on Campus. I wonder if that is where UA places everyone for summer research.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I will have access to the rec center. And I will be working for dr leila ladani on her project with “electro-mechanical sensors for bio-detection”. I don’t yet know much about it though.</p>

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<p>What does your award say? </p>

<p>Is there anything about meal allowance? Housing? anything else?</p>

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<p>Don’t get the meal plan, you won’t use it often enough to make it worth while. Put some money into bama cash, use it on the strip or at the food court, or even to go to Fresh Foods. </p>

<p>Also, as a fellow female ME, welcome to Bama!! (even if it is only for a couple of months). Hardaway (the main ME building) is practically my home away from home. If you want to know anything about Bama, ME at Bama, or Dr. Ladani (I have her right now for a class), feel free to PM me :slight_smile: Additionally, I know a couple people staying in town to do an REU at Bama, although I think it’s under Dr. Lang. Still, you should have plenty of cool folks to hang out with!</p>

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<p>Frankly, I wouldn’t put it into Bama Cash either. Why limit yourself to only places that take Bama Cash? it’s not like you get a discount.</p>

<p>Put your money into a bank account and use a debit card. Then you can use it anywhere.</p>

<p>Put a tiny bit into Bama Cash for laundry use. That’s it.</p>

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<p>Congratulations on the REU! Thanks for the heads up on the professor, too. My son is also a sophomore mechanical engineer major, and he has not met Dr. Leila Ladani yet. Maybe he will have her for a teacher in the coming years. Anyway, that research sounds fascinating and should be a great experience for you!</p>

<p>If you don’t wander off campus, options for on campus dining are: Fresh Foods in the Ferg, the Food Court in the Ferg, Lakeside Dining, Lloyd Hall Food Court, and Bryant Hall Dining. </p>

<p>Up to you what you want to do, but remember, if you eat in your dorm room, you will have to shop for groceries. I don’t know what the Crimson Ride schedule will be during the summer, and if you don’t have a car, that may be problematic. Of course, you can always order pizza in or whatever other places deliver. Maybe some other posters can chime in on this?</p>

<p>You will probably be working 9 to 5, like a real job, so make sure the Crimson Ride operates after these hours, if that is your only means of transportation.</p>

<p>I don’t know where Bryce Lawn is located, but my son lives in Riverside, and it is not walking distance to the Publix. </p>

<p>I believe there was a bus to Target on Sundays that started this year, but doubt that will run during the summer. </p>

<p>I agree with other posters to maybe start out with a credit card, and then buy the smallest meal plan available if that’s not working out for you.</p>

<p>There are student credit cards with low limits. Alabama Credit Union, office in the Ferg, offers a student credit card with a $300 limit. You can also use them to open an account to deposit your stipend checks. If you have a credit union back home, they may be part of your shared branch network.</p>

<p>Welcome to Bama and have a great summer with your research.</p>

<p>Please keep us posted.</p>

<p>Where do you go to school during the year? You don’t have to tell us exactly, for privacy sakes, but just curious if you go to another flagship, a private uni, and what area of the country you’re from. </p>

<p>If you’re from outside of the South, we hope you enjoy our Southern hospitality. I know you will meet some very nice people while in Bama and will have a wonderful experience here!</p>

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<p>*If you don’t wander off campus, options for on campus dining are: Fresh Foods in the Ferg, the Food Court in the Ferg, Lakeside Dining, Lloyd Hall Food Court, and Bryant Hall Dining. *</p>

<p>I don’t know if all those places are open in the summer. The ones that are open, will have very limited hours and won’t really be venues for 3 meals a day. </p>

<p>the most my kids ever could eat on campus during REUs was during lunch hours, because that’s when the venues were open and the other kids were going off campus for dinners and weekends (especially for planned outings).</p>

<p>Being part of a REU program usually does mean wandering off campus. Many REUs have outings planned for the kids to provide a social relief from all their hard work. :)</p>

<p>If I were to guess from her screenname, I’d guess that she goes to West Virginia.</p>

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<p>Since UA allows students to buy meal plans throughout the term, there is no need to purchase one in advance. I don’t know the schedule for summer, but know that there will be limited hours and a limited menu on many days.</p>

<p>When I was at a different university last summer, I would only eat at the dining hall if I liked what was being served and my friends were also there. On days with a limited menu, it was a couple dollars cheaper to pay with cash than a meal plan. UA’s meal plans give a slight discount on meal prices assuming that you use all of the meals. For breakfast and lunch, I would either have something I picked up at the grocery store or get a sandwich and a loaf of day old bread from Jimmy John’s. For dinner, I would walk a couple blocks to the downtown casinos and have their dinner specials eg a steak dinner for $4.99 and on weekends, eat at street festivals or grocery store delis. While Tuscaloosa doesn’t have any casinos, it does have many reasonably-priced restaurants on the Strip (the area just off campus) that have lunch specials. Many of these restaurants also deliver. The Publix grocery store just off campus also has excellent made-to-order sandwiches.</p>

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<p>Sea_tide is right.</p>

<p>Since on any given day, the student might…eat at a Retail Dining Venue (Food Court), eat in a Dining hall, or eat off campus…she needs to have payment flexibility…especially since on-campus venues will have limited hours and limited variety in the summer.</p>

<p>Putting money into a Debit Card with a little bit put into Bama Cash for laundry will prevent the student from being tied to limited choices while friends are going elsewhere.</p>

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<p>Even though I indicated earlier in this thread that we woud be putting BamaBucks on our son’s action card, I agree that for a student that isn’t returning to UA in the fall it is best to go with a Debit Card for the bulk of the meals.</p>

<p>FYI, if all of the REU students are staying at the Bryce Lawn Apts (only know for sure that the HHMI students are staying there), they are on the East side of the campus bordering the recreation fields, so the walk to the Strip and the Publix are further than from the dorms on the west side of the campus. Also, the description for the Bryce Lawn Apts says that they have a washer/dryer in the apartment, so students may not need BamaBucks for laundry.</p>

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<p>I need to look at a map, but on University, across from the soccer field, where we park for Family Weekend, there is an Arby’s and a Newk’s. Arby’s, she may know, but Newk’s has some great salads and healthier options than the usual fast food fare. I think both venues take Bama Cash, but I know for sure they take good old cash and credit cards. IIRC, there is a Crimson Ride stop not too, too far from there, and in the heat of an Alabama summer, you might want to hop on the bus to get you a little closer. It’s free with your ID, which you should get, so take advantage of it!</p>

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<p>* I agree that for a student that isn’t returning to UA in the fall it is best to go with a Debit Card for the bulk of the meals.*</p>

<p>Right. Since the student has no idea where the other kids will be eating, it’s best that the student keep all options open by keeping food money on a debit card. </p>

<p>There will be kids in the REUs that will have cars. And, the Crimson Ride does get the kids to The Strip as well</p>

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<p>I have the impression that the Crimson Ride is scaled back significantly in the summer so that it isn’t nearly as frequent as during the fall/spring, but that impression could be wrong.</p>