<p>This is all correct I just think that the difference between dining dollars and panther funds ought to be clarified. </p>
<p>Dinning dollars are something you get with your meal plan that allow you to buy overpriced foods which the school sells at a huge profit. You can’t use these anywhere else but school owned eateries/quickzone. You can’t even use them at the cheaper school owed vending machines. </p>
<p>This is annoying because like a coke costs $2.75 at quick zone, $2.00 in a vending machine, and like $6/6 at 7 eleven but if you want to use dining dollars you have to use the first. </p>
<p>The only places that aren’t significantly inflated are pitt owned fast food places like taco bell and burger kind where you can use dining dollars. </p>
<p>Panther funds are like real money except you can only use them certain places You absolutely need them for laundry. SOME of the vending machines accept them. A lot of places on Forbes claim to accept them but often they are broken. In practice they serve the following functions.</p>
<ol>
<li>Laundry</li>
<li>Allowing you to not carry cash</li>
<li>Allow parents to make sure you are not using their money to buy alcohol</li>
</ol>
<p>With that said, Dining dollars are 1,000,000 x more useful than meal passes. Plus dining dollars can be used to get in to market CHEAPER than dining passes for breakfast/lunch and with only a slight penalty at dinner.</p>
<p>I would strongly suggest the 50 dinning pass 900~ dinning dollar plan (it is what I am on now)</p>