Meal Plans

Whether you’re going away for college and you’re dorming or in a campus apartment, you need food. Colleges offer meal plans to students where you can buy stuff from campus dining centers. Even if you plan on making all your food, sometimes they require you to buy a meal plan. Unless you have strict diet restrictions with proof, you’ll still have to purchase a plan. Meal plans are available if you live off campus, but it’s optional and sometimes more affordable.

How do they work? 

Meal plans are usually money onto your student ID, which you can swipe while you’re in dining halls. Local businesses sometimes offer that as a payment as well. You can always add more money, you can’t get money back if you don’t use it. Use ALL your points! They won’t let you purchase individual items. You typically have a certain amount of meals per semester, and then you can evenly split it per week. 

What are the options?

It’s different for every school, but the standard usually allows eating 2 or 3 times a day, so it does make room if you want to go out occasionally. Minimal could be 5-10 weekly meals, usually for students who go home for the weekends or cook more often. Keep in mind there are not many kitchens, so sometimes you won’t even get the chance. Plus plans are 3 meals most days/ 20 meals a week and off campus will only get a couple for the entire term, which could vary from 10-20 meals. They also offer guest meals, so you could get a few extra swipes for family or friends.

What should I pick? 

It’s difficult to know what’s better for you, you don’t want to waste your points, but sometimes you’re just not in the mood to eat. Or you could be starving and run out of points and can’t afford to buy more. Consider a few things:

• How often do I eat?
• Do I have more dietary restrictions that most universities can’t accommodate?
• Is your schedule fixed or flexible?

If anything, just purchase the standard plan and have money available if you need to add more later. This could be a tool to decide whether or not you should downgrade or upgrade your plan next semester.

The cost varies for each school because they can offer unlimited meals each week for $2115, but another could cost nearly $3000 for just 3 meals a day. So this is something you could consider as a factor.