<p>I could not find answers when I searched a previous thread. Apologies in advance if I missed it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do Unused Meals from Fall Semester Plan roll to Spring – Example, if student purchases the 55 Meal Plan and uses 45, would the unused 10 be added to the 55 for Spring to equal 65 in spring?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the cost to eat lunch at Bryant or Ferg without a meal Plan on a “normal” day lunch (we are aware there is special Friday pricing of $5 on select days)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Yes, meals do roll over from Fall to Spring only (not from year to year). I have always called UA Dining directly whenever I have had questions and found them very helpful. They can tell you how many unused meals are on student’s account. Please post what you find out about other costs for individual meals. It is disappointing that they are not published anywhere.
Additionally, I did find out this today: Dining Dollars are increasing from $300 to $325 per semester this fall 2014. For new parents, this charge is automatically put on your student’s account. If you don’t use it, it can be refunded to you, at your/student’s request, at the end of the academic year. Here is the refund request form: <a href=“http://fawp.ua.edu/bamadining/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/12/Credit-Request-Form.pdf”>http://fawp.ua.edu/bamadining/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/12/Credit-Request-Form.pdf</a> </p>
<p>Longhaul, my very strong opinion is that you should not buy a meal plan. You do not save that much per swipe; the cost savings is not worth locking yourself into a full year of that plan.</p>
<p>As to your questions, unused swipes roll over from fall to spring and then all expire in the spring. Cash price is about $9 for lunch and $9.59 for dinner - not sure exactly. </p>
<p>I totally agree with Class2012 - if doesn’t take many unused meals to eliminate any savings between the cost per meal of the meal plan and the cash cost per meal. My D is a sophomore who lives on campus and if I had it to do over again, she would not have a meal plan this year. She definitely will not have one next year.</p>
<p>I ditto what others have said: No meal plan after freshman year. Like, beth’s mom, I wish I had not bought my son a plan for this year…and I bought the unlimited! UGH! I wish I had listened to everyone last year! :(</p>
<p>I feel your pain. This has not been our experience, however. My S religiously eats between 17-19 meals every week at dining halls. We bought the unlimited plan again this year, his 2nd year on campus, and have not been disappointed financially at all. The unlimited plan IF USED is quite a reasonable deal. The per meal swipe using the unlimited is an estimated $6.18 for us. I arrived at that figure by taking the semester charge $1578/15 actual weeks on campus Fall semester/17 meals per week. Most weeks my S eats all 19 meals on campus. For the Spring semester, he will have been on campus for 16 full weeks, so the per meal swipe drops to ~$5.80. I have confirmed this by calling UA Dining office and asking how many swipes he has had in any given week. (these are legit meal swipes, not going in for a snack or a soda, which he does not do) I did this analysis before the end of his Freshman year, in order to make a decision about his Sophomore year. He is moving off campus now, and so an unlimited dining plan no longer makes sense. Again, IF USED, the unlimited plan is very reasonable. The other plans have never made financial sense to me.</p>
<p>The need for a meal plan after a student’s first year at UA really depends on their eating habits and general location on campus. For many students, it’s more cost beneficial to not have a meal plan and choose where to eat based on specials and what is being served that day. For example, students taking classes on the west side of the quad are very close to the Strip and Publix and can get good tasting meals there. </p>
<p>If a student has a late class and would normally rush to the dining hall before it closes, they’d save around $3 per meal by waiting for the late night meal at 9:30 or 10:00 pm as late night is the same price as breakfast.</p>
<p>Also, upperclassmen tend to be invited to more events with free food. The free food at such events is often described as heavy hors d’oeuvres and could very easily be enough for a meal. </p>
<p>My son is going to be so disappointed that Bryant will be closed lunch. He ate his lunch there almost everyday. Very convenient for engineering students. Bummer.</p>
<p>Re: Bryant- Is this because of the renovated Fresh Foods? Did Fresh Foods change locations? I vaguely remember from our tour that it seemed close to engineering, but I am terrible with directions and got turned around a lot at BB :)</p>
<p>I would suggest contacting Bama Dining and expressing ones concern that Bryant will no longer be open for lunch. The change likely has to do with the relatively small size of the dining area. </p>
<p>Can someone explain how scholarship $$ works with dining dollars? If they don’t buy a meal plan, can they apply scholarship money to just swiping via dining dollars?</p>
<p>Dining Dollars are charged to the student’s account every semester. If there is scholarship $$$ sitting on the student’s account, that will go toward any expense posted on the student account. The net owing, you pay for; if there is no net (i.e., if there is a credit), you get a refund.</p>
<p>I’m surprised Lakeside doesn’t open for breakfast until 10 am. I guess DS will need to keep milk and cereal in his suite fridge for that 8:00 class (that he’d prefer not to have…but the other sections were full).</p>
<p>A lot of students will eat breakfast after their 8am class. Fresh Foods, Bryant, and Burke are open for breakfast. Lakeside does serve breakfast, albeit from 10pm-1am, aka Lakeside Late Night. Unlike high school, students don’t aren’t typically busy throughout the day with only small breaks. It’s not uncommon for students with 8am classes to wake up, go to class wearing very comforable clothes, and return to their rooms after class to get fully ready for the day. There’s a saying that at UA, every student needs a couple UA baseball hats for the days when they don’t have enough time to get ready for their early classes. :)</p>