Unlimited Meal Plan vs. Flex Meal Plan

I just saw that there is an option. I thought there was only the unlimited included in the housing this year.
I am leaning towards the flex but I wonder if students would use $3,500 Dine In Dollars.
I believe last year the students had $1,800.
Did any students from the last years use all of it and had to add money to the account?
Since it expires in May I wonder if the additional $1,000 are worth it.

What is everyone else from the class of 2023 deciding on an why?

Two kids in college. One big male kid, one regular female. (what does that mean ?).

Different schools but neither used up their meal plans. We decreased it like every semester. From sleeping in to working to whatever it seems neither ate 3 meals /day in the school cafeteria. Hate to waste money. See if your school rolls over what you don’t use.

Again, different school. We were about to decrease plan from 7 day all access to 5 day for sophomore year. S will still be in dorm. In our case, it was something like $3.50 per week less, and he’d lose weekend and “late night” meals. The late night events have been social events for his dorm group. He also works some evenings, again another plus for the 7 day. See if you can break it down a bit more. For S, first year, it really helped. With a bit of prompting, S has made good use of plan - for my money. Did he eat absolutely every meal he could (and that we paid for)? No, but that’s a pretty high bar, and pretty limiting on social choices.

Also, see if there are any options to change during the year if the original choice isn’t working.

Best wishes…

UT has removed the Rollover option starting this year and Unlimited is new. It was a nice option to be able to rollover Dining Dollars.

The only people I’ve heard in the past four years who added money to their accounts - were mostly boys who liked eating some big meals. My D first year was at $1600 and rolled over about 700. Remember you’ll be paying about double the prices when you buy anything at the Markets. So yogurts and drinks are easily double the price of what you spend at a grocery store. HEB is right up the road on the Bus Line that stops on campus.

Ultimately - when you have tons of Dining Dollars left you’ll spend them at the Markets on things other than food like clothing, cups, etc.

Whether paying the extra $1000 to have flexibility at Dining Dollar locations only is worth it - is left to each person. I’d rather give it to my son to go to a grocery store or off-campus locations.

I thought there was just going to be the one unlimted plan. I looked on the UT dining page and I’m still not clear.

Do both plans have the same cost except the additional $1000 fee?

We are heading to orientation Monday so I’ll see if I can find out more then also.

@Texasmom2001 the unlimited plan is included in their on campus housing cost. Which includes $600 Dine In Dollars and $200 Bevo bucks.
To opt into the Flex plan you pay an additional $1000. there will be no unlimited eating at the 2 all you care to eat dine in places, instead they will receive $3500 Dine In Dollars and $200 Bevo Bucks.
I calculated if they ate 3 meals a day at $15 at J2 that would be $450 a month and $3,600 for 8. But we all know that it is less likely for them to eat there that often. With the Flex plan they have more Dine In Dollars to use at other places on Campus.
And that they don’t rollover anymore sucks.
http://housing.utexas.edu/dining/unlimited-resident-meal-plan
On mobile the flex plan is on the bottom, on desktop to the far right.

Thank you for that explanation. I’m not sure which would be better but I’m leaning towards the unlimited plan. I’m having a hard time justifying the extra $1000 fee.

I think that it is just as likely that he will want to eat off campus and then he’s not tied into the UT dining choices even more.

At this point, I think we will stick with the unlimited plan. He is living in Jester East so at least the Jester dining hall should be fairly convenient.

@MomJojo Only at the Dining halls will you get that “Meal Rate”. At all other places you will pay whatever their prices are plus like a 5% discount for using Dining Dollars. So it might double the rate using those Dining Dollars.

I had the exact same questions @MomJojo. Going to family orientation didn’t help answer any questions either. I think we are going to pay the extra $1000 now for the $3500 in Dine In Dollars. I know the food has changed a bit, but I did see it on Monday and it wasn’t that much different than when I lived and ate in Jester nearly 30 years ago. The only place they can get unlimited meals is J2 and Kinsolving. Not JCL where most of the kids ate during orientation. All other dining locations on campus will require the students to use their $200 Bevo Bucks or their $300 a semester Dine in Dollars. By using Dine in Dollars, you do get a slight discount vs paying in Bevo Bucks or cash. Kinsolving is supposed to have better all you can eat selections than J2 but for our kids living in Jester or Whitis area dorms, they will be eating all their meals on that side of campus. My daughter loves the food choices at Cypress Bend, Bliss, JCL, Jester Pizza, and Jester Market way more than she will want to eat the food in J2. She rarely eats more than 2 meals a day. She plans on stocking up on fruit, veggies, and sandwich items from HEB to supplement her meal plan anyway. Having had two older children go through this process at other colleges makes me appreciate the flexibility of choosing where they want to eat. Having lived in Jester myself, I can tell you that the same old choices day after day gets old. Most students now days eat healthier too so heavy fried meals aren’t that enticing to them. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck! Let me know what you guys choose.

During orientation their meal card wasn’t good at the J2 location only at the 1st floor locations but we ate there during family orientation and I thought there was a decent variety. By the way, it seems odd that their orientation meal card wasn’t good at the J2 locations. I think that would have been useful for kids to help them choose a plan.
I think we will save the $1000 and see what happens. My son is not a big eater but I think he would maybe like to eat off campus just as well as the other dining locations on campus.
I think we should all report back and see what worked and what didn’t for future classes. ?

Do you think there will still be the $5 rate at the all you care to eat dining halls for on campus students that go the flex plan route? Or will they do away with that rate and make them spend more of their dining dollars if they choose to eat in the buffets?

@txaggiemom Looks like that is all taken away - I can’t even find it on the website anymore. Even the unlimited plan - the swipes for the meal plan are separate from Dining Dollars. Same with the commuter plan. You have to understand that in the past this is NOT how this used to work.

So now Dining Dollars just gives you 5% discounted price. You can send Housing an email and specifically ask them this question to make sure you understand. As far as I can see there is no reference to that $5 rate.

I asked a few questions at Orientation and understood that with opting out of the unlimited they will only get a 5% discount using the Dine In Dollars. They even mentioned again that they don’t roll over and it would be a better idea to fill up Dine In Dollars with smaller amounts if needed.
We stayed with the unlimited plan and she had to make that selection before she could make her room selection.