By now, every student on campus has that one spot that has managed to suck up all their dining dollars. Whether it’s the smuices at Town Center Cold Pressed or the sushi from the Student Exchange, there are many options that are too delicious not to spend your dining dollars on. However, dining dollars and meal swipes aren’t always unlimited.
This is why it’s important for upperclassmen to carefully consider what meal plan they will purchase next semester or next year. There are many factors to consider, like how much you are willing to spend each semester on food, your willingness to prepare your food or even how much you value social interaction in dining halls. If you are unsure about which meal plan is right for you, hopefully, this breakdown will help.
Freshmen and sophomores are more limited in their meal plan options as they can only select the All-Access meal plan. However, juniors, seniors, commuters and graduate students can choose from several meal plans and are only required to select a meal plan if they live in campus-managed housing.
One factor to consider is how many meals you will eat on campus at the dining halls and how many you will cook yourself.
If you chose Block 125 or Block 100, that saves you $558 or $901 when compared to the All-Access plan. This money could then be spent on groceries which can be purchased at Food Lion, Trader Joe’s, Target or Walmart, among other options. From the center of campus, the Food Lion is only a 10-minute walk, and the Trader Joe’s is a 15-minute bus ride or five-minute drive.
Another factor to consider is the value for each meal swipe. The All-Access plan gets the most bang for your buck at $8.27 per swipe, while the other plans are priced at $17.70 per swipe. If you don’t enjoy the quality of the food at the Commons Dining Hall or Sadler or don’t feel it’s worth the $17.70, then you might not want to purchase a dining plan at all and save that money for your groceries and prepare your own meals.
Another benefit of having a meal plan is pre-paid dining dollars accepted at many on and off campus vendors. The number of dining dollars you have varies from meal plan to meal plan. These include Commons Dining Hall, Market Place, Sadler, Student Exchange, Tribe Market, Town Center Cold Pressed, Starbucks at ISC, Boehly Café (Business School), Chick-fil-A, Column 15 at Swem Library, De Jure Deli (Law School), The Bake Shop, Dominos and Bento Sushi.
Perhaps you might be okay with sacrificing meal swipes if it means more dining dollars for your favorites, like the Column 15 coffee or the Bake Shop bagel sandwiches. While Block 100 has fewer meal swipes it has $100 more in dining dollars, which when budgeted correctly, can afford you about $31 per week in dining dollars. Block 125, like the All-Access plan, would still provide you with about $25 per week in dining dollars, so if you select that plan, you will still need to make one or two meals on your own per day.
Now back to the more important question, the sushi at the Student Exchange is a crowd favorite, so how many spicy tuna rolls could one really buy with dining dollars?
Selecting the right meal plan for you is all about knowing your own habits. Where do you want to spend your money? How much do you like to eat on campus versus spending the time and money to cook at home? Hopefully, after reading this article, you feel better equipped to choose the meal plan that will satisfy your needs as a student.
