<p>I definitely recommend the 16 over the 21. Very few people manage to actually use their full 21 meal plan on a regular basis. The bonus bucks will be nice to have, because there are some places on campus where the cost of your meal with probably go over your meal plan allotment (i.e. Pandini’s, Colloquium, etc.). If you have bonus bucks, then you can just use those to cover the difference. If you don’t have bonus bucks, you can just use Carolina Cash (or real money) instead. If you are coming in with AP credits and have bonus bucks already, then I suggest the 14 instead of the 16 (my mom calculated it all out at one point, and I think somehow it’s a better deal).
cogneuro76- The meal plan is good for everywhere on campus, not just the cafeteria in Russell. If you want bonus bucks, (I believe) you can’t get one of the block plans, and you have to get at least ten meals per week. The ten meal plan is what I have now, and compared to the other options, it’s a bit of a rip-off, but it was cheaper than 14, and I wasn’t using 14 anyway.</p>