I hate that I have to pay $2000 for a meal plan

College Life
1

<p>It’s been less than a week and I’m already getting sick of the campus food. The only upside to it is unlimited Jamba Juice, but no way in hell is that worth $2000 a semester. I can’t get rid of it either since it’s already paid for and freshmen are required to have one, and I can’t sell it since it’s a weeklong plan and we use our IDs to get into the dining commons. I don’t even eat three meals in there since I usually just have a granola bar and some juice for breakfast, both of which I keep in my dorm.</p>

<p>Argh! Why schools require meal plans is beyond me…guess it’s just another way to get as much money from you as possible.</p>

2

<p>My school also requires freshmen to have big meal plans. Even though nobody eats that much. The dining hall officials claim that the money made from those help to pay for the upperclassmen’s food, but they might be lying.</p>

3

<p>Blasphemy. $2,000.00 a semester for unlimited Jamba Juice? Totally worth it. </p>

<p>Suck it up.</p>

4

<p>Ours is $2700 a year, but the food is pretty good, so I’m not complaining.</p>

5

<p>No complaining until you are in a situation where you are living off-campus yet still have to get a meal plan.</p>

<p>(seriously. I’m not living in university housing and there’s still a mandatory off-campus meal plan; $950 for 2 semesters)</p>

6

<p>I live off campus and I spend $800 a month on groceries.</p>

7

<p>I would spend far more than 2 grand for unlimited Jamba Juice. Straighten up your priorities methinks.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>Why does my meal plan cost twice as much?</p>

9

<p>The financing of college meal plans is dependent upon the number of students. At a school with 30,000 students it can be optional and still have the critical mass of participants to be viable. But at a school of 5,000 or so, it generally has to be mandatory - or at least mandatory for freshmen - in order to be able to afford having a meal plan at all.</p>

10

<p>" I live off campus and I spend $800 a month on groceries. "</p>

<p>are you eating filet mignon for every meal, marinated in truffle oil?</p>

11

<p>Wow, I thought we had it bad…</p>

<p>We pay $1600 per quarter, or essentially $2400 per semester, BUT…everything is unlimited.</p>

12

<p>Feels good to be a commuter after looking at those numbers.</p>

13

<p>Just know there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m going to try to get exempt from my meal plan requirement. I also don’t eat 3 meals a day. At school I hardly eat one, really. So I’m going to try to go for a much less expensive plan- which sadly will still be pretty expensive.</p>

<p>When I lived in my apartment I hardly ever spent more than $30 a week on food. $30 at the most. So paying $1500 a semester is a lot for me…but apparently I have it pretty good!</p>

<p>It’s absolutely ridiculous how much we pay for pitifully terrible dorms and crappy food. I can’t even think about the numbers, it makes me too sad! I’ve been really thinking of living off-campus because then at least the money might be worth it.</p>

14

<p>I think some public housing complexes are more comfortable to live in than some dorms.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>That could feed three families.</p>

16

<p>that’s incredibly hard to believe unless he’s a cocaine addict and considers cocaine to be a grocery</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>Agree d</p>

18

<p>too bad for those families</p>

19

<p>2000 is worth it for unlimited jamba juice alone, do you realize how much you should be taking advantage of that? They are even pretty healthy. Suck it up.</p>

20

<p>Three meals a day plus unlimited Jamba Juice for 2000 dollars?</p>

<p>UMD has a 2000 dollar meal plan (per semester) where you end up with 1175 dining points and 360 dollars that can be spent at a few other convenience stores. Each point is equivalent to a dollar and every single food item sold on campus has a ridiculous mark up. We spend 2000 dollars for probably less than 800 dollars worth of food and it’s crappy food at that.</p>