Annie G Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Dd is a senior living on campus in a college owned house. She eats most of her meals at her house but occasionally likes/needs to eat on campus. They have meal plans to cover this kind of thing- like 70 meals at any time during the year. The problem with this is that the campus cafeteria is open access so you have to pay to even enter. Breakfast is $7, lunch is $8 and dinner is $10. So the meal plan ends up costing us $10.67 per meal (no matter what meal you eat)....more than if she just pays as she goes. And she usually eats lunch, rarely eats dinner on campus. So we're losing money if we buy the meal plan. So pay as you go, right? Easy...except... So they have another thing where you can add money to her account and she just swipes her ID card and the amount is deducted from the balance. So an $8 lunch costs $8. I called today to add bucks to her account and they tell me they can't add bucks because she doesn't have a meal plan. If she had a meal plan, I wouldn't need to add bucks. The thing is this: I want her bank account to be hers to manage- she has bills to pay and money to save for her term in Japan in the spring. I wanted her to use her ID to pay for food because we could add money that she would feel free to use without having to track it or worry about. This girl has anxiety issues and has battled issues with eating. I need this to be easy for her. It was so perfect last year when she swiped her ID, got a receipt that told her how much was left in the account, and she went on about her day. They said last year I could add bucks because first term she had a meal plan (Which she didn't use enough to make it financially worth it), which meant we could add money the other two terms. Do your kids' schools have goofy programs like this? The school's explanation to me today was that they do it this way to protect the school's tax exempt status on meal plans for people who use financial aid to pay for meals. So...is my best option a reloadable debit card? Or is there an easier solution I'm missing here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 They have meal plans to cover this kind of thing- like 70 meals at any time during the year. The problem with this is that the campus cafeteria is open access so you have to pay to even enter. Breakfast is $7, lunch is $8 and dinner is $10. So the meal plan ends up costing us $10.67 per meal (no matter what meal you eat)....more than if she just pays as she goes. It's probably just me, but I don't understand how the calculations work? The cafeteria is open access, meaning that anybody can purchase food there. But you have a choice between paying a la carte as you would in a restaurant or buying a meal plan that allows you to pay a flat rate per meal. Is that more or less right? If so, how does an $8 lunch end up costing you $10.37? And if a meal is typically $10.37 but you can buy lunch for $8, how does paying out of pocket cost you more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 The meal plan for kids not living in a dorm offers 70 meals that can be used whenever they want- first term, second term, whatever, as long as it's by the end of the school year. That's what most kids get when they just need occasional meals. With this one, the price for 70 meals is $747, which is $10.67 per meal. If a student has no meal plan, they just pay for the meals as they buy them...so if they enter at breakfast they pay $7 to get through the door, $8 at lunch, and $10 at dinner. There is no a la carte- you have to pay full price even if you just eat a piece of fruit. So last year we chose how much to put in her food account and the school uses the student ID as a debit card- they deduct the amount you spend on food from the account by swiping the ID card. That's how our local high school does it, too. This is what we want- but they won't let us add money to her account and use the 'swipe your ID card and use it as a debit card' unless she also has a meal plan. If we buy a meal plan, as outlined above, meals cost $10.67, which is more than if she just pays out of her pocket at each meal. I'm not explaining this well at all. I think a lot of the problem is that when you buy things like meal plans, you expect it to be cheaper than the per meal price. Isn't that the whole point of buying plans like this? Like car washes...each wash is $5 but if you buy a book of ten, it's $45, not $55. They don;t ding you for buying in bulk. But the meal plans at this school do ding you. The real issue is that I need an easy way for her to pay for her meals without co-mingling her food money with her other money. Like I mentioned, anxiety and food issues are enough for her to cope with, and this one thing needs to be easy. Swiping her ID card and having that money come from her account worked beautifully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I would absolutely get a debit card for her. Our credit union offers one with no fee if you have an account there. You can check the balance every so often and put more money on it if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Another Jen Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Either a debit card or paypal has a student card which is basically a debit card. I can instantly transfer money from my checking onto the student paypal card. I can see where the money was spent and the kids can use it as debit or credit (up to their current balance) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 23, 2014 Author Share Posted August 23, 2014 Either a debit card or paypal has a student card which is basically a debit card. I can instantly transfer money from my checking onto the student paypal card. I can see where the money was spent and the kids can use it as debit or credit (up to their current balance) Paypal has a student card? Awesome! That sounds like a good option. She has a debit card attached to her checking account but her food money really needs to be separate and this sounds perfect since we can refill it from our checking account. Thanks for the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Do your kids' schools have goofy programs like this? The school's explanation to me today was that they do it this way to protect the school's tax exempt status on meal plans for people who use financial aid to pay for meals. Yes, my oldest's school was like this in that when you divided the cost of the meal plan by the number of meals, the price per meal was over the "pay as you go" price. We just gave my son the equivalent money and let him manage it himself. That way, he had the incentive to be frugal. Glad that you seem to have found a solution in the paypal card! Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 23, 2014 Author Share Posted August 23, 2014 Yes, my oldest's school was like this in that when you divided the cost of the meal plan by the number of meals, the price per meal was over the "pay as you go" price. We just gave my son the equivalent money and let him manage it himself. That way, he had the incentive to be frugal. Glad that you seem to have found a solution in the paypal card! Brenda Thanks for telling me this isn't the only school that prices meal plans like this. I was starting to think I was crazy since dd's friends all seem to go to schools that give a big price break when buying meal plans. She's really good managing her money- almost too good, as she's worried she'll run out or might need money for some unknown emergency. I don't want her to not eat because she's being frugal or worrying that she's going to run out of money. Anxiety can be a tricky thing to manage, and when it's accompanied by eating issues... Oddly enough, she manages her book money, pocket money she makes working, and other funds just fine. It's just money associated with food that seems to stress her out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 The real issue is that I need an easy way for her to pay for her meals without co-mingling her food money with her other money. If that's the issue, why don't you open a separate account for her food into which you transfer food money and she can simply swipe that debit card? Or get her a Visabuxx card which I have for my teens; we can transfer money to the card electronically, and the kid can pay with it everywhere debit or credit cards are accepted. There are no fees for using the card for a purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 23, 2014 Author Share Posted August 23, 2014 If that's the issue, why don't you open a separate account for her food into which you transfer food money and she can simply swipe that debit card? Or get her a Visabuxx card which I have for my teens; we can transfer money to the card electronically, and the kid can pay with it everywhere debit or credit cards are accepted. There are no fees for using the card for a purchase. Yes, I think we're going to look into this- either a separate account for her food or a Paypal teen debit. She moves in Sunday and dh and I leave Tuesday morning for a ten day trip so I'll check into it when I get back. Until then, she's stuck using her regular debit card. Maybe in those two weeks she'll work it out herself. It just threw us for a loop because the way we did it last year was PERFECT because her student ID is always with her, and we didn't know until today that they won't let us use this method this year. Glad to hear the Visabuxx card can have money transferred electronically. A couple of cards we looked into required that you bring them into a store to add money...that's not very convenient! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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