What meal plan?

<p>So, what meal plan are you getting?
I am thinking about the package of 10 meals + 500 dollars FLEX or whatever it's called. What do you think?</p>

<h2>My take on the flex thing...others may disagree. This was our experience with the meal plan options and UNC One card.</h2>

<p>You can put money in 'dining flex' or you can just load money on your UNC One Card. We did not do flex.</p>

<p>If you put money in flex, you can't use it for anything but dining at certain locations. Last I heard, these locations were the dining halls (Ramshead/Top of the Lenoir), but not the fastfood joints at the Bottom of Lenoir. Even if you do a flex dining plan and only intend to eat in on-campus dining halls, you will still need to 'load' funds on the UNC One card...see below.</p>

<p>When you 'load' your UNC One Card, you can use it for any on-campus dining, laundry, copy services, library, infirmary/pharmacy, certain off-campus dining and retailers and many other goods and services. It should be noted the dorm washers/dryers only work with a UNC One card swipe and they draw from the amount you 'loaded'. Copy center only takes the UNC One card and draws from the loaded amount too. So, even if you DO opt for a flex plan, it is necessary to keep some money loaded on the UNC One card for these services since you cannot use the dining flex dollars for them.</p>

<p>The UNC One card can also be tied to a checking and savings accounts if you create them at Wachovia. This is called the UNC One Plus card and it is a debit card in addition to a UNC One card. It is all one card, with multiple functions.</p>

<p>We did the UNC One Plus card so we can make online monthly transfers from Wachovia savings to Wachovia checking for spending allowance. D then takes a portion of her monthly allowance and 'loads' her UNC One card for laundry, etc. I believe this is done at studentcentral or myunc.edu. How much and when are details we leave to her...we just make the monthly transfer from savings to checking. So her UNC One plus card draws from the load for certain on-campus goods and services and also serves as a debit card drawing from a checking account should she need to make a Target run, pay for a cab to the airport, etc...</p>

<p>If you opt not to create a UNC One Plus card with a Wachovia checking and/or savings account, you can still load the UNC One card with bank transfers from your home bank or by charging the 'load' to a credit card. We bank with Chase, but went to our local Wachovia here in Houston and created our d's school accounts during the summer prior to her first semester. We just thought it would be easier to transfer funds periodically this way. Plus (we didn't tell her this of course...hehe), there is overdraft protection when you tie the savings to the checking.</p>

<p>Regarding the number of meals. For our d's first semester we signed her up for a block, not a weekly number of meals. Unused weekly meals are lost at the end of each week. Meals on block are good until the end of the semester, so you don't lose unused meals until then. We originally signed her up for 200 meals....WAY too many. She quickly tired of dining hall food, even though it is very good. She now eats one meal a day at the dining hall and uses the dorm kitchen or microwave to make her other meals. In January, we lowered her meal plan to 150 meals which still may be too many. You can make one fee-free revision to a meal plan per year I believe.</p>

<p>Sorry this is such a long answer and probably much more than you wanted. I know there will probably be big discussion of the UNC One card as the Fall semester approaches and it can be confusing.</p>

<p>If I've gotten anything wrong, hopefully jack or eadad will pop in and clarify.</p>

<p>Also, on money matters.</p>

<p>I highly recommend having a credit card for travel, especially if you fly home with connections. My d usually flies direct, but we cashed in some United miles for her Christmas ticket home which required a connection in Chicago. Her flight from RDU was delayed and she missed that connecting flight. It was the last flight out from O'Hare to Houston IAH or Hobby that day so she was stuck overnight in Chicago with thousands of passengers. We finally found her a hotel room; but because she didn't have a credit card with her, it was a nightmare check-in with us faxing forms back and forth to the hotel authorizing her to check in on our credit card number. </p>

<p>Over the holiday break, we got her a student Visa in her name with a low credit limit for emergencies and it has worked out well. She's been very responsible with it, we have peace of mind, and she is establishing a good credit history.</p>

<p>Is there an advantage to purchasing Flex dollars through your dining plan? I know where I go to school Flex dollars are half off the original price. This system seems very confusing. Why would you need flex dollars if you had a block or meals per week plan?</p>

<p>Check this link...<a href="http://www.dining.unc.edu/meal_choosing.aspx%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dining.unc.edu/meal_choosing.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>There, for example, the 10 meal per week +$500 flex is $1485. Separately, they are the same price (10 meal per week $985 + cash $500 = $1485). Same is true for the 150 block + $500 flex. So there is no discount advantage to tying your $ up in a flex account.</p>

<p>Also if you compare the 10 meal per week to the 150 block which are approximately the same, you'll see the block is slightly more expensive... $1065 and $7.10 per meal vs. $985 and $7.05 per meal. In this case, you need to consider how many meals you will be throwing away if you decide not to eat in the dining hall 10 times a week in order to make a true cost comparison. My d would take a week at a time break from the dining hall because she was tired of the food...or because she would get too busy to make a run to the Ramshead dining hall. Block worked great for her because she didn't throw that week of food away.</p>

<p>Clarification on dining flex vs. expense account dollars here....
<a href="http://www.dining.unc.edu/meal_dining.aspx%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dining.unc.edu/meal_dining.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You use dining flex at a variety of on-campus dining locations, but you cannot use those dollars at the bookstore, health services, laundry facilities, etc. 'Loading' funds into the expense account on the UNC One Card is how a student pays for these items. </p>

<p>Our personal feeling was the flex dollars and the expense account dollars loaded on the UNC Card have the same buying power and sales tax exempt status, but the expense account load has more true spending flexibility.</p>

<h2>But, some parents want to know their student's funds are being spent on food, and flex account is one way to give the student more eating options without more spending options.</h2>

<p>(I may have confused things by using the terms 'load' and 'loading'...'loading' is putting money into the Expense account on the UNC One Card. The UNC One Card has an Expense account, serves as your Student ID and is what you present to use your meal plan at the dining hall. </p>

<p>The UNC One PLUS Card has all that AND it serves as a debit card that can pull money from a checking and/or savings account.)</p>

<p>i got the 105 meals a semester and 300 dollars flex, this was more than enough. Trust me, you won't eat at the dining hall breakfast lunch and dinner seven days a week. Almost everyone I know switched to the smallest meal play (105 a semester) during second semester.</p>

<p>I agree with chillmandan. Unless you are a regular breakfast eater, any more than 105 will probably be wasted. The bloc plans are nice because you use them for whatever meal you choose whereas the the fixed meals per week apply only to those specific meals and that specific week so if you don't use them, you lose them.</p>

<p>It's funny because when we toured we were told about all the kids who buy larger plans offering to buy lunch or dinner for friends near the end of a semester to use up meals. Because we had opted for a larger plan our son's first semester, worried that he wouldn't be eating enough....lol...it happened to us as well. We reduced to 105 the second semester and upped his dining dollars and did the same thing sophomore year as well.</p>

<p>ldmom06 thanks for all of the great info! A couple more questions about the UNC One card. If there is money left over at the end of the year, does it just carry over to the next year? Also, setting up the Wachovia checking acct.--can you do this at CTOPS or do you recommend setting that up before hand and then linking the UNC One card at CTOPS? </p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help!</p>

<p>$7.00 for a meal seems very expensive. Is there a way you can bypass the meal plan and just pay per meal at the dinning hall or put all your money into flex?</p>

<p>cat & sicnarf- </p>

<p>I do know dining flex dollars carry over from Fall to Spring...but not sure if they carry over to the next school year. My understanding is that you can only buy a flex plan if you buy a meal plan, so at the end of the school year, the entire thing (meal plan + flex) expires. When you set up your meal plan, I would ask this question.</p>

<p>Regarding expense dollars, my assumption is balances carry over indefinitely since expense dollars are not part of any plan. eadad...am I right/wrong about this?</p>

<p>We actually set up the Wachovia accounts well before CTOPS which worked out great. At CTOPS, there are several lines if I remember correctly...one really long one for applying for Wachovia accounts, one for photos for the UNC One Card and one for linking your Wachovia accounts to the UNC One Card. My d only had to take the ID picture which was a pretty short line that moved very quickly; and she had to link her accounts. All those who already had Wachovia accounts were in and out of the linking line in no time. (They just basically took your Wachovia account numbers and your PID and said 'next'....very quick process.) </p>

<p>Also, if you get your account ahead of time, you will receive a Wachovia debit card directly from Wachovia. This will come in handy in the few days before your UNC One Card activates and links to your Wachovia accounts. Btw, my d keeps her Wachovia debit card and her Visa credit card in a small safe in her room and only carries her UNC One Card which serves as student ID and allows her to access her expense account and her checking/savings accounts. She only carries the Visa when she travels. She never actually needs the Wachovia debit card, but it's there should her UNC One card get lost and take a few days to replace.</p>

<p>eadad - MY d would be one of those students feeding the world with her leftover meals...lol! We mistakenly bought the 200 block! She had so many leftover meals after the fall semester, she took practically her entire floor to dinner many times. The previous Freshman Council had actually conducted a drive to collect leftover meals to donate to shelters; but her Council was not permitted to do this fundraiser again. (Something about Food Services not having too healthy of a bottom line... ;) )</p>

<p>sic - one other thing... You could bypass the meal plan, but not with a flex account. But you would be able to put your money into your expense account. However, the cost per meal goes up significantly if you are not part of a plan and instead 'pay at the door'. I would do as eadad suggests, get the smallest block (105) and put funds into your expense account or keep it in your checking account. My d definitely eats for cheaper than $7 a meal out of her expense account and checking account since she keeps cereal, milk, pasta and fruit and veggies in her room/microfridge. She actually has a shelf full of groceries and makes a Walmart run periodically to stock up.</p>

<p>sicnarf</p>

<p>You would pay far more doing it that way......the meal plan is all you can eat at Lenoir and Ramshead and if you haven't visited Lenoir upstairs, it is set up with a number of stations with a wide variety of choices...there's anything you could imagine....pasta, pizza, a carving station, wraps, burgers and fries, salad bar, veggie selections...etc...in the morning there is a made to order omelet station, Belgium waffles, smoothie bar, cereal bar etc....all-in-all, i actually thought it was a pretty good deal. don't forget, it includes beverages as well which are also with refills. Downstairs you can use dining dollars at national restaurant chains that are set up there. </p>

<p>My S lives off campus this year and his meal costs have nearly doubled by comparison. Just last night Eamom and I were commenting about how much more expensive living off campus has been...paying rent 12 months a year, not 9 and the added higher cost of meals because of eating out and paying retail.</p>

<p>double posted with ldmom</p>

<p>forgot to mention that you can keep milk, cereal, easy mac, soup etc in your room and with fridge and microwave supplement the meal plan.</p>

<p>^Plus I think your parents would feel better if they knew you were eating at least one decent meal a day at the dining halls where you can really 'fill up'. My d tends to make a meal out of popcorn or a bowl of cereal, but I know she is usually hitting the Ramshead at least once a day and getting some protein and calories in her body. So in that respect, I agree with eadad...it's definitely worth the money for the basic eating plan.</p>