Wht can't college students fees themselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$600/month for meal plan is crazy. What do college students need catered meals all day every day?

What's wrong with cereal and yogurt for breakfast, and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch?

$600 / month for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week isn't a rip-off. I mean, that's $6.58/meal on average...that you don't have to cook yourself and each meal is unlimited food with drinks and basically anything.

Now, sure, most college kids are skipping some meals (notably breakfast)...but it's still a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$600/month for meal plan is crazy. What do college students need catered meals all day every day?

What's wrong with cereal and yogurt for breakfast, and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch?

Are you from another country? Seems like an odd thing to complain about.

or a drunk poster...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$600/month for meal plan is crazy. What do college students need catered meals all day every day?

What's wrong with cereal and yogurt for breakfast, and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch?

$600 is quite reasonable when you consider the cost of food, the cost of maintaining a qualified commercial kitchen and the cost of labor to cook, save and clean it all up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$600/month for meal plan is crazy. What do college students need catered meals all day every day?

What's wrong with cereal and yogurt for breakfast, and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch?

That’s $20 a day. Doesn’t seem outrageous to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’re supposed to be studying, not grocery shopping and cooking. Dining halls feed college students more efficiently than having all of them try to do it individually for themselves. There’s a lot to complain about regarding college costs. This is not one of those items.

+1 we all lived in the dorms and had unlimited meal plan and it was the best. No kitchens, no cars for groceries. So easy.

It's also an equalizer - more ppl all eating the same food vs stratifying by income level and eating out a lot etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in college you had choices for meal plans. That said, if you live in a dorm not all kids have cars to go get groceries.

Plus it’s how universities make $$$$$

My kid is at school where most have $1k+ of dining dollars left each semester. But there is no lower plan. If they lowered the required amount I suspect prices would go up somewhere

[Anonymous]

I’m frugal and so is my son. He won’t leave any unused meals at the end of the week. He gets them as takeout meals on Friday or Saturday before the week resets. Our neighbor gave him their dorm fridge so he stores them there in his room. His roommate laughs at him but to me (and my son) wasting hard earned money is awful.

[Anonymous]

It is a lot more than $600/month. My DD’s meal plan (the moderate plan) is over $4100/semester. There are 14 weeks of classses and finals. 18 meals a weeks. That is over $14/meal.

It is not an all you can eat situation.

I am not complaining but it is a lot more per meal than people here are saying. And she eats out at least one night a weekend, which she pays for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a lot more than $600/month. My DD’s meal plan (the moderate plan) is over $4100/semester. There are 14 weeks of classses and finals. 18 meals a weeks. That is over $14/meal.

It is not an all you can eat situation.

I am not complaining but it is a lot more per meal than people here are saying. And she eats out at least one night a weekend, which she pays for.

Well, we are responding to OP who said their kid's meal plan is $600 / month.

[Anonymous]

It's a great deal if your college has great food. DC has 8 dining hall options and eats better than me most nights. Most of the food is healthy, so the freshman 15 has actually been in the opposite direction. If your kid is eating out every night, they have self control issues, not a dining hall one. The only thing I will say is a lot of universities don't have a lot of fresh fruit available, but that's a cheap buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in college you had choices for meal plans. That said, if you live in a dorm not all kids have cars to go get groceries.

Plus it’s how universities make $$$$$

My kid is at school where most have $1k+ of dining dollars left each semester. But there is no lower plan. If they lowered the required amount I suspect prices would go up somewhere

I assure you most students don't have $1k+ left. College students, especially men, hog down on food constantly. It's likely your child has that amount, because they may not like the food that much or naturally don't eat a lot. But, most college boys are running out of their dining dollars quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a foreigner from a country with free or very affordable universities. I still pay the exorbitant price for my kids' college experience here in the US, with fancy meal plans and fancy dorms. I remind them how much it is compared to how much their grandparents paid for my husband's and my education. My kids are expected to make the most of their opportunities.

Send them to school in your own country or stop complaining. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a lot more than $600/month. My DD’s meal plan (the moderate plan) is over $4100/semester. There are 14 weeks of classses and finals. 18 meals a weeks. That is over $14/meal.

It is not an all you can eat situation.

I am not complaining but it is a lot more per meal than people here are saying. And she eats out at least one night a weekend, which she pays for.


At my DS’ school, for the cheaper meal plan (14 meals per week plus dining points that can be used throughout the semester), the cost is approximately $6200. And he lives in an on campus apartment with a kitchen but they require freshman and sophomores to have either this meal plan or a more expensive one even if they live on campus with a kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Once they move out of the dorms, the $ just shift to housing so pick your poison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once they move out of the dorms, the $ just shift to housing so pick your poison.

If you live in a group home, it’s cheaper to live off campus at my kid’s school.