mom2boy, does he have any friends at a house with a Buttery? JE has one, and they serve late night snacks like grilled cheese sandwiches for around a dollar - less if you bring your own paper plate. My kid can't make it without "fourth meal," either.
Noticed the same thing as miom2boy. The only alternative plan was not really an alternative at all. I did see something in the dining hall about ordering a packed lunch to go. I suppose if you hit the dining hall at the tail end of breakfast and ate a "brunch", you could get a boxed lunch for later. A similar tactic will free up a lunch meal swipe for a Durfee's run. DS has an EC that takes him off campus nearly every weekend so he hardly ever has a Friday night or Saturday meal. I would have jumped at a 14 meal a week plan but at the same price as the 21 meal plan with only $150 of cash dining credits, it made no sense.
scoutsmom...I will mention the Buttery to him. I haven't heard about that.
YaleGradandDad...DS is in a similar situation with an EC for part of the year and doesn't eat meals on campus on certain weekends. Even when he is local, he has a practice slot on Sunday mornings that precludes him from having brunch in the dining hall. $7 at Durfees doesn't do it.
I had to laugh this am when I received an email from my husband (who didn't know that I posted on this topic just last night) containing a screen print of DS's debit card transactions with a heading saying, "Does he realize that he has a meal plan?" It doesn't seem to bother DS that he's spending his hard-earned money on food. I guess this excess food consumption shouldn't surprise us. He's been expensive to feed for the last five years!
It doesn't seem to bother DS that he's spending his hard-earned money on food.
This is why I chose to give my kid more than what any "reasonable" kid could spend on incidentals in four years as one lump sum going into freshman year. No one calls asking for extra money and my kid knows this belongs to him when he graduates. It might bother me to keep funding a debit card used for an additional daily meal or for prohibitively expensive last minute plane tickets which could have been bought months in advance. It also gives my kid some sense of budgeting his own money and not thinking that anything there is just waiting to be spent. Other parents feel more comfortable sending a pre-set amount each month or just paying all the bills but this works for me. I can tell you that at least one of my kids seems less wasteful with "their" money under this plan than they were in high school when I just directly covered all the expenses.
YaleGradandDad...The money being spent here is DS's earnings from his summer job. We pay for tuition/room/board/books, and he is responsible for the year's incidentals/spending money. Currently, at his request, we budget a weekly amount for him, since he realizes that he's not good at budgeting himself. For the most part, this works, although last year we supplied additional funds during the periods when he was on campus and the dining halls were closed.
And, yes, we've told him that soon enough he will need to learn to do his own budgeting....
Hi all. I'm looking for restaurant advice. We're visiting next weekend, and want to take the kid out for a nice dinner on Friday night. We'll have a car.
For the boxed lunch, just to set the record straight, this has to be requested in advance. It's prepared at breakfast and the student picks up lunch on their way out.
The mealplan my S has is unlimited swipes. This allows him to grab a quick bite between class and rehearsal as otherwise his hypoglycemia would do him in, and still join the orchestra for their dinner after rehearsal.
Durfee's swipes seem to be a popular and easy way to go and I think they can be charged on the Bursar's bill so that mom and dad pay. We agreed to cover certain extra meals when circumstances really compelled it.
Our student kept the 3 meals a day plan...though spring term with EC doesn't eat lunch nor dinner Thur, no meals Fri and none Saturday....
So at least 8 meals per week Feb-May go wasted.
And K1 complains that the athletes getting to dinner in the evenings often find limited food left/dining closing up when they arrive....
I do wish they has some options. The swipes at Durfees really are junk food now, as the real food/produce etc is expensive (compared to local retails--according to YDN)
D says the same thing...that most of the dining halls are closed after practice. D noted that Stiles and Morse stay open late to accomodate the atheletes.
