My daughter is the first Aggie in our family! She’s excited to live on campus her freshman year in either Lechner or McFadden (honors housing). What’s the best dining plan for newbies?
Congrats! We are new Aggies as well!
We are going with the Block 200 (10-12 meals per week with $500 dining dollars). Any unused Dining Dollars will roll over to the spring semester.
That’s not even 2 meals per day on campus, and I would have preferred the larger plan for the 1st semester, but my student said it’s enough. We will see how the 1st semester goes and adjust accordingly. We can downgrade during the first 4 weeks of class or upgrade through October 26th.
@chercheur I agree, they say block 200 was good for the corps, but at 2 meals a day, I’m not sure how I will be full (and what about weekends?).
I think that is when you use the dining dollars. They are valid anyplace on campus is my understanding, and you can add more dining dollars at any time. Start with the plan you are comfortable with, and if you need to downgrade, just do it during the first month of classes. If you need to upgrade, you have until October 26th.
You can upgrade your dining plan until about half way through the semester but can only downgrade it for the first couple of weeks. I would suggest starting with one of the smaller plans and see how many meals your student is averaging after the first month. This is what we did with my son and ended up upgrading the the 200 meal plan. It sounds like most kids don’t end up using that many meals though so I would dedinitely start with the smaller plan. The things that make it so they don’t use 3 meals a day include having a late breakfast that then kind of counts for their lunch, going to events that provide food, eating off campus, going out of town for a weekend, getting busy and just making themselves a sandwich or something in their room. My son used all of his meals the first semester but is going to end up with quite a few remaining this semester, he also still has a lot of dining dollars which he will lose at the end of the semester if he doesn’t use them.
So the dining dollars are separate from the block? I’m so confused…
You will select Dining Dollars in the amount of $300, $400, or $500 as part of your block plan.
Below is from the 2017-18 catalog:
*The second part of the dining plan consists of “Dining Dollars.” These declining balance dollars can be spent like cash or a debit card, and are accepted at all University Dining kiosks, coffee shops, food courts and dining centers. Each purchase is automatically deducted from the account.
When paying with Dining Dollars, patrons will enjoy a discount on the door rate at Duncan, Sbisa, and The Commons, the all-you-care-to-eat dining halls on campus.
Dining Dollars roll over from fall to spring with the purchase of a spring dining plan.*
Dining Dollars: Used like a debit card, this balance can be used at any dining location
Meals: All you care to eat at Sbisa Dining Hall, Duncan Dining Center, and The Commons (does not roll over)
The smallest plan is normally in the end the best . You can also use cash to buy meals/food - it is a discounted price that you get with the meal plan. And no… they are not going to starve! We got our kids credit cards (gasp - right?! nope, you can log on & see where they are spending the money vs. IDK where the cash went…) it is also great for budgeting both for their first year & beyond. Very few students wish for more meal money, they normally are desperately trying to giveaway meals & dining dollars their 2nd semester. Upperclassmen friends love their generosity 
@rosegeo did the convenience store in the Commons open back up with the renovations? They use to take dining dollars for purchases - my son & daughter used up their dining dollars there. 4 year supply of scantrons, pens,toiletries, etc.
Be very careful about the meal plan. My Daughter knew several people that had 100 meals left over 1st semester and that was just a waste of money. We got the smallest plan and $500 dining dollars and it was perfect. She would normally eat breakfast in her dorm and sometimes just eat 1 more meal out. She had a microwave so would have heat something up or have a sandwich. Also, there is food for free on campus a lot from the different organizations.
Less is more with the meal plan. My son and most of his friends had meals left at the end of both semesters freshman year (and we’re talking hungry teen boys here). Personally, we threw away almost $300 on meals first semester that don’t roll over like the dining dollars do. Honestly, the price break on the meals (vs. paying cash) is minimal…definitely not worth the $ we wasted on unused meals. Get the smallest meal plan and add more dining dollars if necessary.
Does anyone have experience with gluten-free options on campus? My son has Celiac, and we are trying to figure out safe options for dining.
Yes! My son was diagnosed over spring break freshman year…it was baptism by fire going back to the dorm. I’ll be honest – it was hard. He finally scheduled a meeting with a dietician at Sbisa, which was immensely helpful. Do that ASAP. There are options, special fridges with GF breakfast items and treats, etc., and the chef can prepare something safe by request if the buffet options need a boost. The biggest challenge for my son was that the satellite eateries had limited selections, most of which were not OK (pre-made sandwiches and salads with non-GF dressing), and he rarely had time to go all the way to Sbisa from across campus at lunch time. Buy the absolute smallest possible meal plan you can if he’s living on campus. Make regular trips to HEB and stock up on portable food items. Don’t use any communal cookware/utensils in the dorm kitchen. Budget for regular runs to Salata, Pei Wei, and Chipotle. Find the GF bakery (yes, there is one!) on drop-off day. There is a GF “club” (hot tip from the nutritionist) on campus that is a good resource. It was a lot easier once he moved into an apartment, but his roommates were not as helpful as they could have been in the kitchen. This year (senior) he is planning to live on his own to avoid the shared kitchen challenges. If your son has been living with it for a while, he will have an easier time…mine was trying to recover from months of serious symptoms before his diagnosis, figure out how to avoid gluten, and “adult” simultaneously!
Thanks so much @Loganator for all these helpful tips. We will schedule meeting with Sbisa dietician and get the smallest meal plan possible. It’s good to know he can eat in Sbisa and hopefully avoid cross-contamination. We don’t have a feel for how practical it is time-wise and parking-wise to go off campus to eat at other places like ones you listed, but I’m sure he’ll figure it out. (I never wanted to give up my parking space when I was there a hundred years ago, but maybe coming & going is easier today.) He was diagnosed 3 years ago, so he’s learned a lot about not getting glutened. It’s good to hear from someone else how to best do it while living on campus. Thanks again for your help!
He probably won’t have time to leave campus for lunch unless he has a huge gap in his schedule, but weekends…one can only eat so much dorm food! The Sbisa chef actually gave my son his cell number and invited him to call in a request when he was heading over and it would be ready when he got there. I don’t think he ever tried it, but it was very reassuring! Definitely stock up on snacks he can take with him every day in case he is stuck, hungry, and there is nothing he can eat at the nearest food stop. My son just passed the one year mark, so it’s still new enough to be challenging, frustrating, and depressing at times. In the past three years, though, he has noticed an increase in the options at HEB, Walmart, etc.