Hello everyone, it’s Megan!
One of the many questions you have to make as an incoming
Lute concerns which meal plan you should get. If you’re like me, you’re not
really familiar with the idea of meal plans or what that means for your day-to-day
life on campus. So, this week’s blogpost is going to be a brief overview of
meal plans; what they are, which options are available, and when you should
consider terminating your meal plan. Hopefully, by the end of this you’ll have
a little more information about which meal plan is right for you!
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| Old Main Market: one of the three coffee shops on campus. Photo: H. Doan |
First things first: who needs meal plans? The answer is everyone
who lives on campus. So, all students with an active housing assignment must
enroll in one of the following four meal plans: A, B, C or D. There are
exceptions for residents of South Hall and Kreidler, as these dorms are usually
reserved for upper classmen. Kreidler residents have additional meal plan
options of Meal Plan E, F and G. If you plan to live in South Hall, you are not
required to have a meal plan at all. And of course, if you live off-campus you
are not required to have a meal plan either.
Meal Plan A-D
If you are entering PLU as a freshmen or sophomore, you have
the option of choosing Meal Plan A-D. The different options offer varying
degrees of guest meals, meaning “swipes” you can give to your friends or guests
who don’t have meal plans. They also vary in terms of dining dollars. Dining
dollars is pre-paid money on your Lutecard, that can be used to purchase food, coffee,
snacks, etc. Dining dollars are tax-free, meaning that anything your purchase
using your dining dollars will remove the additional tax charge. Long-term,
this is very beneficial, as 10% sales taxes add up over longer periods of time.
Here is an overview over meal plans A-D:
The star next to Meal Plan B indicates that this is the default meal plan. This means that if
you do not actively select another meal plan, this is the one you will be
charged for. Meal Plans A-D include unlimited access to buffet style dinners,
which PLU calls “all-you-care-to-eat meals”. All-you-care-to-eat access counts
for Sunday-Friday dinners, as well as Brunch on Sunday mornings.
When I lived on-campus last year, I had the default: Meal
Plan B. This meal plan was a good fit for me, although I ended up not using all
of my dining dollars evenly throughout the semesters. Dining dollars roll over
(transfer over) from Fall semester to Spring semester, but they do not transfer to the next academic year. This is very
important to know, so that you don’t end up wasting un-used money. By the time
May rolled around last year, I still had $450 dollars to use and less than a
month to use it all. A luxury problem for sure, but it is also smart to allocate
the money evenly throughout the semester so you get the best use out of your
money.
Meal Plan E, F, G
These are the Meal Plans available to only Kreidler, South
Hall, and off-campus residents.
Meal Plans E include
50 one-admittance all-you-care-to-eat meals and Meal Plan F has a similar offer but with only 20 one-admittance
meals. Meal Plan G is all Dining
Dollars: you have $536 dollars that you can spend freely at all campus
restaurant facilities. Here is an overview of different costs associated with
each Meal Plan:
FLEX-D Plan
The FLEX-D plan is a new addition to our meal plan
offerings. This option is only available to students who are eligible to be
off-campus (has at least 60 credits and is 20 years or older). The FLEX-D plan
is also all Dining Dollars on your account, but here you get $2169 instead of $536. In other words,
this meal plan could serve as a substitute for cooking yourself, rather than an
addition to cooking yourself.
So, what can you use Dining Dollars for?
As mentioned, Dining Dollars are restricted to only food
purchases, and are exempt from sales tax. They may be used during a la carte
meals in The Commons, or to purchase all-you-care-to-eat meals for guests in
The Commons and at all campus restaurant locations:
- The
Commons
- Old
Main Market
- Kelley
Café
- Lute Café
Alright, that
concludes my Meal Plan overview! I hope this was helpful to any incoming
International students, I know it can be hard to navigate all of these new
terms and conditions for room and board, so taking the time to read up on your
different options is a nice way to save money. I hope you all have an amazing weekend,
take care!!
- - Megan
