View Meal Plan transactions?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>I know it’s hard, but I think the parents need to take a deep breath and relax. If you can even see your student’s meal plan transactions, that’s because you are signing on to your student’s account using his/her log-in credentials. </p>

<p>Yes, we parents are paying for their education but it’s THEIR education, their responsibility, their choices of which they will suffer or reap the consequences. </p>

<p>I also don’t agree that seeing the transactions would be useful for future planning. If my son were on a limited meal plan this year he would be using the caf in a much different way than he may be using it now with the unlimited plan. </p>

<p>Don’t worry, if your kids are hungry, they are finding food to eat. If you want to know something, ask your child. I know I’d be mad as hell (and changing my password) if I were 18 and realized my mother was signing into my account to see when and where I ate.</p>

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<p>Nice post, class2012mom.</p>

<p>Aeromom, I get what you’re saying. I don’t necessarily equate posting on these forums with helicoptering. I miss my boy (and wish he would keep me updated more than he does), but I try to unload my anxieties on you people, as opposed to bugging him or trying to follow his every move. </p>

<p>Plus I just like wasting time on the internet. ;-)</p>

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<p>Alrighty then…She knows that I occasionally sign into her account, I’m not following her every move. Thought it might be useful, info. Nevermind.</p>

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<p>You are completely wrong, 2012mom. If my son lives on campus next year, whether or not he used the unlimited meal plan to it’s full benefit would be extremely helpful in making decisions on meal plan for next year. I would not be able to get that info by a conversation with my son. That is like trying to figure out what your grocery budget is off of the top of your head- difficult to do without your receipts. </p>

<p>As for signing on to a students account, some parents have permission of their students to sign on to the account, others may have the financial/accounts sign in only set up. So it is known that parents can see these things. It’s not that everyone is sneaking around spying on their kids. We monitor the campus web cams for that purpose, silly. (JK, I dont even know if the campus has web cams)</p>

<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>

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<p>Okay, I am nominating the parents here on the UA thread as the biggest helicopter parents ever! Seriously guys, number of laundry loads? Vending machine habits? How many meals eaten and where? Let’s not forget every bit of helicoptering on flights, road conditions, shuttle services and who’s going to wipe little Johnny’s hoo ha. </p>

<p>I’m sure you all mean well, but you all take things to an extreme that is kinda creepy! JMO.</p>

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<p>GA2012MOM- I’m not sure why you think trying to schedule flights to coincide with shuttles is “helicoptering”. You also need to understand, there are many different people here with many different parenting styles, personalities, financial situations and children. You don’t know if one poster’s child suffers from depression, or another’s has a heart defect. Perhaps the family was very close knit due to difficult situations at home. Perhaps their only child has just moved hundreds, or a thousand miles or more away. You cannot generalize every parents desire to monitor or arrange things based on only your perspective. It is much easier to handle these things when you live in Georgia, but some of us live in Ca,the Midwest, or the Northeast. Not a short drive away.</p>

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<p>If my Johnny’s got a hooha, we’re all in trouble!</p>

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<p>LOL, yes, Johnny has a hooha!</p>

<p>Proudmama, sorry I wasn’t clear. My daughter does not go to Bama, graduated in May from a school in MA and now in med school in the NE as well, so I am not right around the corner. My point was that it seems that Bama parents are more “involved” than the average parent. I recall a past thread where some parent was giving room dimensions, along with the height of the desk and chair and I thought the was hillarious and over the top! The Bama parent cult actually gives me a daily chuckle, makes me not seem so helicopterish (I know that’s not a word.) ;)</p>

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<p>I, for one, was very appreciative of the measurements shared as I knew what to buy for a room, sight unseen, long before move in. &lt;/p>

<p>This forum is one of, if not the, busiest forums on college confidential so it stands to reason there are a lot of involved parents posting. Honestly if I was not over the top involved my DD would not have even know about UA and the wonderful scholarships they offered. Heck, she would be either at the local CC or be so far in debt if might take her decades to pay it all off.</p>

<p>At 17 she is not mature enough at times to make great decisions so I would much rather be able to monitor some things and make sure she is on track than find out too late she lost her way and can’t turn things around.</p>

<p>Call me a helicopter or just outright tell me you think I am a bad parent but I think there are a lot of children out there that could benefit from more involved parenting.</p>

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<p>Is this a Southern thing to call a boy’s stuff a hooha?! Up here hoohas are female parts.
I’m glad we can provide not only ourselves with chuckles, but people around the country with laughs at our folly. Ironically, the word hoo-ha actually can mean a good chortle or a laugh.</p>

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<p>What’s wrong with asking, “What did you have to eat today?” “Who did you eat with?” “Everything going okay?” “Anything I can help you with?” etc., rather than worrying about their every move or logging onto their account to monitor what they are doing… after less than a week of school. Kids will let you know what they want you to know. The rest they can figure out on their own. Do you really NEED to know everything they do? Did you want your parents doing that when you were 18? </p>

<p>It’s natural to have anxieties about how your child is adjusting to college life. But you can’t always be there to catch them. Sometimes they just have to screw up.</p>

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<p>In a “Wings” episode, which is supposed to be on Nantucket, they often used the term “hoo ha” to refer to male body parts. Never heard the term used for women’s. </p>

<p>As for helicoptering, etc…Some have very independent kids who manage everything themselves. Some have kids who don’t think about the details, and then there’s an issue. I have one of both types, so with one kid I have to helicopter a bit about important things (the minor things can slap him good and that’s fine…lol). The other son manages so well that he could go to school on the moon and be fine. </p>

<p>Yes, some worries can seem over-the-top, but there are some concerns that are really valid. Since the airport is 60 minutes away, shuttle info is very important. It’s not like a taxi can take the kid to Bama if the shuttle times aren’t right. </p>

<p>I see both sides of the meals issue. On one hand, I doubt Bama has had kids lose weight from not getting adequate food (the opposite really…the Freshman 15), on the other hand, it is nice to know that a pricey meal plan is getting used.</p>

<p>But then again, even if the student DOES use his meal plan a LOT this year, that doesn’t mean that he needs that big of a meal plan next year. If he moves to an apt, he won’t. If he likes making a few meals each week in his kitchen, he won’t. If he begins liking the off-campus hangouts as dining venues, he won’t. If his soph friends rarely eat in the Dining halls, then he won’t (that’s a biggie!!!)</p>

<p>this is all very new to the parents of incoming frosh. In a few weeks/months, they’ll begin to hear complaints that their child is tired of meal plan food (even though menus change daily), and will likely start meandering around The Strip, Midtown Village, or Downtown and eating (at least) weekend meals there. </p>

<p>Since the school is in a city rather than some rural location, there are many off-campus food offerings. Walk around The Strip on any school day/weekend and it’s crawling with students.</p>

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<p>Many parents just want a window into their student’s world. I’m sure the peeks through the window will decrease as the days increase.</p>

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<p>OK, there is a big difference between knowing EVERYTHING that a kid is doing vs knowing how much of a meal plan is being used for planning purposes. And I think that the only reason people ran across the laundry info is because they were trying to see if the meal plan info was available. </p>

<p>Do I need to know on a daily basis if my son is using his meal plan. No, and I would not look daily, or even weekly for that matter. But at the end of a semester or year, I would take a look as we were planning for the following year or semester. And if I could not reach my son, I might take a look to see if there were any activity if I had that “sinking feeling” that moms can get- or to help prevent same feeling. I do ask my son how he is, if the food is OK, if he is sleeping, and how classes are going…but since I am not keeping a diary of his responses, it makes it hard to judge at the end of the semester. </p>

<p>And I fully expect that his room mates will be the ones that put pressure on him if he does not do laundry. I am not the one living with the smell, they are. So I actually do not care about how often he does laundry, except whether or not he needs me to add money to his action card for that purpose. I expect him to ask me for that when necessary, though. When I do add money, I will be able to readily see what he has been spending the card money on, and if he has done laundry recently etc. Like others, I only looked at that info recently because everyone was talking about the inability to see meal card usage. I have not been back on the site since then. </p>

<p>So, everyone stop being so judgemental, and let it go. This is a learning process for everyone, and a change for everyone. We all adjust differently. We all use our resources differently, and our students all communicate, or do not communicate in different ways. If I asked my son how many meals he used, he would likely say to me “I have no idea, go check the account”.</p>

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<p>Again, keep in mind that the frequency that a child uses his/her meal plan NEXT year will largely depend on whether his/her FRIENDS are using a big or small meal plan.</p>

<p>For my older son’s second year, we bought the Bronze plan (he had unlimited his first year). Well, his two best friends didn’t even have a meal plan, so that ended up being somewhat of a bust because they often wanted to eat dinner and weekend meals together. Son mostly only used his meal plan for lunches that year.</p>

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<p>I think all of us as parents hope & believe that the schools that our S & D are at are the best for them. I am grateful for all the help I have received on CC. But my S’s freshmen year he was alive & well far away and trying very hard to become independent. Was it hard us as parents, you bet. But now. As he begins to start his senior year and we talk and text just as I had always hoped, I see the need for that first year of growth. They don’t starve, the make their way to the airport and have fun doing the laundry all without their parents help. We should them find their college, but once there the true growing up starts. That includes the parents at U of A even though you brighten my morning each and every day.</p>

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<p>Again, I am glad we are a source of amusement to you folk out there. If there’s ever a reality show about UA helicopter pilots, er, parents, I want IN!!! I can honey-boo-boo like the rest of y’all. (or do I mean “best” of y’all?)</p>

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<p>I think it’s “best of all y’all” - but I could be wrong. I’m still learning.</p>

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<p>I’ll call this a tale of two parents. My sister has two boys, and I have three girls. She and her family live in Tuscaloosa. Although i grew up there, I am currently four hours away while my daughter is in Tuscaloosa.</p>

<p>Our parenting styles have always been as different as our children and our personalities. While my sister believed I hovered over my girls when they were young, I believed she hovered over hers equally so. She never once thought I’d be willing to let go and see my children go out of state to school. I have. She struggled with letting go although hers were only a half hour away from home at the UA.</p>

<p>We were talking the other day and I found her perspective interesting. My youngest nephew is completing his last class at the UA this semester and will graduate in December. He already graduated from the Police Academy and is gainfully employed. His plans include SWAT training and he is interested in perhaps working with the FBI later. He is a smart, respectful man with a great head on his shoulders. He’s a people person with a wonderful personality, southern charm, and good looks. He doesn’t meet a stranger and has an uncanny ability to get along with pretty much anyone he meets and put them at ease. While he has been kicking around ideas, she shared with me that some of them actually frightened her, but she has come to grips with the fact that he has a good head on his shoulders, a passion for what he does, and is a fully grown man. She’s learned to trust that it is his life and he can handle himself.</p>

<p>My daughter called me last week to catch me up on family things. She chuckled at seeing her cousin all grown up, polishing his shoes and gun, driving a Dodge Charger with lights and sirens, and wearing a bullet proof vest. She asked me if I could believe it. She, too, remembered puppet shows, plastic bugs in the bed, and GI Joes from not too long ago.</p>

<p>My reply to her was yes, I remember. I remember like it was yesterday. Letting go is hard. Seeing them grow into the strong, competent young men and women they’re meant to be is rewarding. I am so proud of my nephews and my daughters and enjoy seeing them grow.</p>

<p>Having said that, it doesn’t matter to me who checks what on MyBama and who doesn’t. We’re all different just as our children are and so are our approaches to parenting and letting go. If it gives you peace of mind then do it. This, too, shall pass. Y’all carry on and do what works for you and your student…don’t worry what others might think…it really doesn’t matter :slight_smile: Roll Tide!</p>

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<p>I’m still laughing at the hoohas!</p>