Bavaria89

Square Meal Deal or Meals Plus Plan? I find the description of the two meal plans is somewhat ambiguous, and I'm not so sure which one I should choose. Any advice?

soproudofkids

My S is a sophomore and a touch short of 6 foot. He teased us to no end when we bought him the Bountiful plan freshman year---we had chosen that plan because it was only a couple of hundred dollars more, and since he was our first going away to college we were concerned he might starve to death while he was gone. He said the Bountiful plan was for football players and how much did we think he was going to eat. Anyway, he laughed at us right up until the point that he ran out of points during his first semester. We've actually had to add points to his plan every semester since then (and he's stayed on the Bountiful plan---this year he didn't laugh at us).

Point being, definitely don't go for Square Deal, and you might want to even consider the Bountiful plan.

I think why our S maxes things out is he does a lot of eating where you pay for each item, vs. going to the dining hall and paying flat fee for all you can eat. So depends on where you're going to eat. My S and his friends eat at Bear's Den most of the time.

MidwestParent

We have the opposite experience of soproudofkids. Our freshman D is on the Square Deal Plan (I believe the minimum you are allowed to sign up for as a freshman) and here, just 40 days or so until she comes home, she has plenty of points left - points that are not transferrable to the next year. She does eat breakfast in her room (not a big breakfast eater) but also, RARELY eats off campus - meaning, she uses her meal plan for the other two meals of the day. So, guess it would depend on your appetite.

People have advised in previous threads to sign up for the lowest point plan you think you will use, then add points to it as needed throughout the year. Their rationale for this was that a 'fee' is added to the initial plan you purchase and the amount of that fee depends on the size of the plan. There is no fee when you buy additional points for the plan during the year.

soproudofkids

yeah, she's a girl.

OP was a guy...

nervous1

Bavaria89, do you have a Son or a Daughter? My D is a freshman and has the required Square Meal Plan. She has loads of points left, but her guy friends are always running out of points and asking her to buy them food!

soproudofkids

Bavaria89 is the accepted student I believe (as in born in 1989....)

Here comes the part where OP tells me I've guessed wrong....

oncampus

Go for the meal plan with the least points - You can always add additional points (at $1 for 1 point) if you're going to run out. I bought the square meal plan freshman year, and ended up with a few hundred extra points, as did most people on my floor. You can always add points, but you can't get refunds on extra points bought at the beginning of the year...

Bavaria89

Thank you for so many opinions. Huh, I'm a guy admitted student.

Cressmom

I have one boy (tall) and a girl, and both want the plan with less points, they say is cheaper to buy more points if they need it than to get a more expensive plan. My S rarely has time for breakfast (early classes), so he has plenty of points left.

NUgraduate

My daughter bought the required Square Meal freshman year and ended the year buying things at Bear's Den trying to use up the remaining funds. Sophomore year she bought the smallest plan, and ended up buying points to make up the difference. There is no downside to the smallest plan - the student isn't forced to starve him/herself - s/he just adds more points as needed. In contrast, a ton of people lose their points with some of the larger plans.

purpleBoople

Just buy the smallest and add more as you go.

tuvwxyz

how do the points correlate to the food purchased? is it one point = dollar?
Also, I'm not clear on the part about adding points. If you add points later, are they more expensive than if you had purchased them in the first place?

Don_Quixote

One point = one dollar, as far as reading off the menus on campus goes. I believe that it's slightly more expensive to add points later as opposed to getting a meal plan. I'm going to be starting off with the "Meals Plus Plan," which gives you about $12.50 to spend on food per day, as best as I could figure. If this ends up being to much (or too little) I'll probably just change plans at semester.

sgcollege

I'm pretty sure it costs less if you add points later, actually. I'm not positive though.

purpleBoople

above poster is correct. get the smallest plan