<p>So far we have the Flex bucks with the meal plan and have opened our Suntrust account.</p>
<p>I looked into the three purse concept, things that bother me are refundability if something happens to the card, control of the money and security. I wondered where you are coming down on this? Is anyone thinking of using the purse option?</p>
<p>Also there is an option to link the UCF card to Suntrust account. They can then use the UCF card just like the purse concept, but it just draws out of the Suntrust balance and there is a ATM where they can get money right on campus. We can just monitor and relenish the account online.</p>
<p>Looking to anyone here for some additional thoughts?</p>
<p>Just starting to look into this, as we've been out of town a great deal these past few weeks. Not sure what we're doing yet, other than knowing we're not doing any meal plan, except purchasing a few flex bucks ... and giving him a budget for his own grocery purchases. Didn't make economical sense for any of the big plans, as he won't eat in the "cafeteria" enough to make it feasible. He'd rather do simple ... and cook simple, and eat at Subway. <g></g></p>
<p>zebes, hoping to figure out "purses" this weekend.</p>
<p>As I was listening to the $$ talk at orientation, I immediately started trying to figure out how much to put on the different purses, flex bucks, etc...</p>
<p>Then it dawned on me. He's there, I'm not. So. We're going to put $$ into his checking account. He will understand that there is a discount on purse 1 for vending, and that there's a 10% bonus for flexbucks use. HE can/will decide how much of the $$ we give him each week will be spent on groceries (he's in an apartment) how much to put into the flexbucks account (if he's spending money at places that take flexbucks, this is a way to make his money go farther) and purse 1 (same deal but with vending).</p>
<p>We aren't going to open the Suntrust account. We have linked checking accounts through our existing bank. Our older son has been away at college for 2 years, and it is literally seconds his calling from college needing $$ for some reason and its being transferred from our account to his via the internet. Very convenient, and much better than the "transfer $$ to Suntrust like it's a bill payment" which can take days. DS#2 (our UCF freshman) also has an account at the same bank, and we already take advantage of the ease of transfer of funds. So we'll just keep doing the same thing.</p>
<p>The motivation for our UCF son is that the more frugal he is with his food budget, the more spending $$ he will have, since he'll get x dollars each week. But with 2 in college, I decided that I don't have the energy every week/month to try and figure out how much to put on the different purses and flex bucks.</p>
<p>On the other hand, when the new dining facility in the Convocation Center opens in January, we'll probably buy some kind of meal plan, even if it's very limited.</p>
<p>A couple of additional comments as I've been doing some more research. I think right now we are putting money into the Academic Purse and Suntrust.</p>
<p>The vending aspect I think is covered by the flex bucks, if she wants something to drink or a quick snack she can drop into the BK or the one of the other food outlets and use her flex for that. She has her 15 meal plan in addition to that.</p>
<p>With Suntrust you can put money both in the checking and the savings account. The saving account serves as a overdraft account on the checking and you can immediatly move money from the savings to the checking online, then just bill pay online as the balance goes down from another account.</p>
<p>The retail purse and multipurpose scare me a bit, too easy to just order up a couple of large Pizza's and a dozen wings for some friends coming over to watch something on TV. With the Suntrust money which can be linked to the UCF card it's a bit more controlled.</p>
<p>The academic purse can be used for stuff at the bookstore, print cartridges, scantrons ect.</p>
<p>For Laundry we are just going to leave her with a supply of quarters or whatever it takes.</p>
<p>I feel like I'm missing out on so much since I'm not at the main campus. I haven't had to think about any of these types of things. I don't think I mind it though.</p>