Meal Plans

[Bootsie]

Many people have commented on how expensive meal plans are the their  or their dc's college.  I am curious about how much this varies across campuses.  Dd's campus has an all-you-can-eat plan in a cafeteria that is opened from 7:00am until 7:30pm.  If she eats three meals a day every day, the price averages to about $6.50 a meal.  Single meals are $6.99 for breakfast and $7.89 for lunch or dinner (these prices include tax).  The cafeteria is centrally located and has a wide variety of choices throughout the day.  

 

An equivalent meal plan at the university where I teach averages about $5.00 a meal if you eat all the meals (but the cafeteria is not as centrally located and convenient on campus).

[Lori D.]

Much more expensive than your campus -- more than double your campus meal costs, for some of the meal plan options. :( At least the meal quality is quite high, and there are numerous options at the cafeteria: 8 food stations, each with different offerings at every meal for choices.

 

Plus, there is a small on campus "market" with produce and ready-to-eat entrees, and several fast food places on campus for additional variety: Subway, burger/hot dog grill, Chinese stir fry, Chick fil A, frozen yogurt/smoothie stand, coffee/tea cafe) for additional variety. And three of them accept the meal card for "meal swipes"; some, if not all, accept the "meal bucks".

 

Individual meals (all you can eat):

$8 = breakfast

$9 = lunch

$10 = dinner

 

cafeteria hours: M-F = 7am-7pm, Sat/Sun = 10am-6pm

on campus fast food hours: M-Sun, 8am-midnight

 

Meal Plans

(all meals = all you can eat)

(meal "swipes do not roll-over to next week or next semester if not used)

 

daily plan = $1995/semester

* 3 meals/day M-F + 2 meals/day Sat/Sun = $10.50/meal

 

weekly plans:

A. $1995/semester = 12 meals/week ($10.39/meal) + $364 "meal bucks"

B. $1785/semester = 10 meals/week ($11.16/meal) + $420 "meal bucks"

C. $1365/semester = 8 meals/week ($10.66/meal) + $276 "meal bucks"

 

"block meal" plans:

A. $1840/semester = 145 meals/week ($12.69/meal) + $400 "meal bucks"

B. $1420/semester = 105 meals/week ($13.52/meal) + $360 "meal bucks"

C. $1260/semester = 95 meals/week ($13.26/meal) + $360 "meal bucks"

 

 

ETA:

I wonder if size of campus relates to cost. DS is at a smaller campus -- about 4000-4500 students live on campus, and another 4000-4500 commute (and likely don't eat as frequently on campus). I wonder if smaller number of people to provide for makes it harder to keep costs down… You know, bulk = discount...

[Laura in CA]

I will come back and add numbers, but the short version is

son in Utah -- cheap

son in California -- expensive (~ 3x more)

 

Also, both of my sons realized after just a week or two of classes that although the food is fabulous, they just don't have time to take full advantage of their meal plans, and both boys downgraded (when possible) their plan at least once.

 

(When I was in college, each dorm had a little cafeteria downstairs, which was where you almost always ate all three meals a day, and the food was nothing to write home about, and there was very little choice -- but it was convenient & quick! Now colleges all seem to have a large dining commons (or two, but "commonses" looked funny), centrally located, with a dizzying array of made-to-order options (see: UCLA -- Wolfgang Puck?!? etc.), but it's often nowhere near the student's dorm or classes and just schlepping there can take 10-15 minutes, then the wait for the custom food, etc. ...)

[Lolly]

$2,600 for the semester. 19 meal plan. That would be per week. No idea how much that comes to per meal. It is the default selection. That covers eat all you want/buffet type meals in the dining room, as well as grabbing a sandwich from a smaller place.  limited hours for any eating in the cafeteria. They run out of sandwiches at the other place, so limited there too. A sandwich on the go counts as a meal.

[Caroline]

We pay $2000 a semester for unlimited access the dining hall. He can go as many times as he wants every day. That also comes with some money to use at restaurants on or near campus, but I'm not sure how much.

[Pawz4me]

We paid $4,294 for DS's room and 120 meals this semester.  We'll probably increase his meal plan to 200 meals in the next week or two, which will cost another $539.  I think that averages out to about $6.74 per meal.  If paying cash (no meal plan) the cost is $8 for breakfast, $9 for lunch and $10 for dinner.  I don't know how much the unlimited meal plan is.  We didn't really consider getting that because there are numerous restaurants within a five minute walk of DS's dorm, and we wanted him to have some variety

[Susan in TN]

Ds has the automatic freshman plan - 7 days/wk unlimited at the all-you-can-eat cafeteria (there are 2, one is right next door to his dorm) for $1700+tax per semester. This includes $275 "flex bucks" which can be used in conjunction with your meal plan to buy food at the various "fast food" eateries or coffee shops or convenience stores. The website says it averages out to $4.53 per meal.

 

This is at a large state university.

[Myra]

Wow!  There seems to be such a wide variety.

 

Son #1- $5054 for all you can eat for the two semesters which includes $150 bonus bucks to buy at on campus "fast food" eateries plus $8800 for triple dorm room.

 

Son #2-$6580 for all you can eat for two semesters which ncludes $200 bonus bucks to buy at on campus "fast food" eateries plus $7750 for double dorm room

 

And I'm adding for fun the following info -

both at small liberal arts colleges located in Eastern US

 

 

Myra

[mom2att]

For the plan we bought:  roughly $2,000/semester (7 day unlimited access, plus $200 in "Flex Bucks" which allow dining at on-campus Chick-fil-a, Subway, etc).

 

The interesting thing to me is that there really isn't a "cheap" option.  You can choose a plan that includes 14 meals/week and $300 in Flex Bucks, but it's only about $150 less than the unlimited meal plan above.  So downgrading doesn't save you much, and I figure that as a freshman, the unlimited plan is one less thing to think about (have I had 13 meals this week, or 15???)

 

And the one we chose is actually the middle of the road option--there's also a Plus plan that includes $250 more Flex Bucks (for a little over $200 more!)

 

Large state school--dd says the food is just okay, but they do have really good cookies (so important!), and you can take food back to your room with you. 

[AK_Mom4]

DS18's school has gone to a declining-balance plan this year.  DS eats what he wants when he wants (though he is stuck with vending machines only between midnight and 7am). He has a bit of a crazy schedule so misses "normal" meal times on certain days. Prices in the dining hall and other eating places are cheaper than the local restaurants, so it works well.  His dining card works in pretty much all the vending machines and Subway and all the little eateries on campus.  He can regularly grab a meal for $5-$6 dollars, but rarely eats more than twice a day.

 

DS says the food is VERY good, which i saying something coming from my very picky eater!

[Sunshine State Sue]

$2493/semester for all you can eat including a few extras

 

They have less expensive, fewer meals plans as well.

[J-rap]

My daughter's is $2,299/semester for the meal plan.

 

That's for 120 blocks (per semester), but I have no idea what a block is!

 

It also includes $200/semester for spending at the various campus "snack" sites -- the Starbucks, the convenience store, the late night sandwich counter, etc.

 

There are less expensive options, but you are required to have this one as a freshman living on campus.

 

 

 

[angela in ohio]

Olin's only option is the $6,200/year full plan, which includes all meals.