<p>I have been eating at the residential dining halls pretty much daily for more than a quarter. Yet I decided not to purchase a meal plan, and instead deposit money onto my BruinCard and swipe every time. My calculations seem to say that this is cheaper (everybody I talks to seems not to think so however). But then if this is true, why would anyone ever buy a non-resident meal plan?</p>
<p>For example, the Non-Resident</a> Blue 14 plan costs $1228 per quarter. A quarter is like 11 weeks. Assuming the 14 meals per week is 7 lunches and 7 dinners. Lunches</a> and dinners cost $7 and $8.25, respectively. So if you paid for all the meals, it would only cost 11<em>(7</em>$7 + 7*$8.25) = $1174.25, which is less than the Blue 14 plan (not counting that you will sometimes want to eat out anyway, so would eat less than 14 meals per week), and is strictly more flexible.</p>
<p>Calculations for the other non-resident meal plans similarly show them to be seemingly more expensive than the sum of the cost of the meals. Am I missing something here?</p>
<p>According to your own formula and the website you provided its $1,540 if you deposited cash, which is roughly three hundred more than the Blue 14. So it looks like you were missing something, if cash prices for lunch are $9.50 and dinner is $10.50 as stated on the website. That is how much you’re paying per meal, is it not?</p>
<p>thats if you pay cash at the front desk. you can pay via bruin card (easy pay, not meal swipes) as you enter the dining hall, and they would cost $7 and $8.25.</p>
<p>quite interesting, actually. i wonder if we’re forgetting something…</p>
<p>I was actually doing these calculations a month ago, and I think I came to the same conclusion. I wanted to actually visit their office and ask, but I never got around to it. Depositing cash is much better I think.</p>
<p>I did not realize that they differentiated between putting money on your card regularly and the front desk, so I assumed it would be cheaper just to get the plan. I have non resident 14 because I live a five minute walk away from De Neve dining hall, but I guess next quarter I can just use easy pay. From what I’ve seen, the dining staff person gets a little annoyed when someone does easy pay though.</p>