According to a survey by the College Board, the average per meal price with a college meal plan is anywhere from $7 – $11. I don’t know about you, but that does not exactly scream “living on a college budget” to me.
I guarantee you that I could eat quite well for a lot less than $11, or even $7 per meal.
When you make the decision to go to college, you will be confronted with many extra costs that are often not included in the base price for your tuition and fees. These fees can include housing, a meal plan, books and supplies, transportation expenses, a parking permit, application fees, student organization fees, dorm furniture and accessories. microwave and fridge rentals for your dorm room, and a laptop.
These fees are included in the Cost of Attendance that is used by your Financial Aid office for financial aid purposes, but the true cost of college is often veiled by the Admissions folks.
Because of all these extra fees, it is even more important to save any money where you can. One of the best ways to save money in these “extra” categories, is to ditch your meal plan for much cheaper alternatives.
But My College Requires me to have a Meal Plan!?
When you arrive on your college campus as a freshman, your options for saving money on a meal plan are limited. Many colleges require you to live in on-campus housing, and also to purchase a certain level of a meal plan. This makes sense in theory, as colleges want to ensure that you have a roof over your head, and adequate food when you need it. This also takes stress off of you to find an apartment and restaurants, while you make the transition into college.
The money savings will come in when you evaluate the various levels and options within your college meal plan. Most colleges have multiple plans to choose from, ranging from a commuter option, all the way up to an unlimited meals option.
A very quick calculation will tell you the answer of which options will be best for you. If you think you will eat breakfast, then you can count on eating at least 15 meals per week. If you plan to eat on campus over the weekend, then you may bump that up to 18 meals per week. A typical college semester is 18 weeks. This would mean an average of 324 meals eaten per semester. You can then divide the cost of your unlimited meal plan by 324, and you will find your average cost per meal.
The average cost of an unlimited meal plan is $1600 for one semester. The simple math reveals that eating 324 meals on campus with the unlimited plan equals about $4.94 per meal. That seems like a fair price to me. I could eat much cheaper if I cooked my own food or bought food at restaurants with coupons, but that is a very fair price per meal. This meal plan also makes the least amount of money for the dining halls.
Once you drop below the unlimited plan, you find that the cost per meal can rise dramatically. For example, a meal plan option that is very popular on college campuses is a flex plan. This plan gives you 75 meals to be used in a dining hall at any point during the semester, and it also gives you $100 in points. These points can be used to buy snacks at the library, vending machines items, quick stop food items, and even items in the college bookstore. However, the price per meal for this plan, even including the $100 in points, easily reaches over $10 per meal.
The bottom line, college food costs are expensive, and are required for your first year on campus. It is important to factor in the stress of a college freshman, in addition to the extra cost of food. It might make sense to spend more money on an unlimited meal plan with a much lower cost per meal, for the peace of mind that you or your college student will be well fed over the course of the semester.
The freshman fifteen is completely up to the student!
Meal Plan Alternatives
Once you have gotten past your obligatory first year housing and meal plan requirement, many college students find that it makes financial sense to move off campus and buy your own food at your discretion.
Here is where you can explore some excellent food alternatives, and potentially save a lot of money.
If you live in an apartment, then there is no reason why you cannot begin shopping at the local grocery store, and preparing many of your own meals. This will take more planning, as you will likely need to pack a lunch and snacks for those long days on campus. You will also need to coordinate with your roommates to see who uses the kitchen when. A great way to save some money is to share meals among your roommates. You could all divide up the week and each roommate will cook a dinner for the others each night. This will almost guarantee you a hot meal 3 or 4 days out of the week. It also takes the stress off of finding something to eat every night.
Living in a college town is also one of the best ways to save money on food. College town restaurants make their living off of college students, and therefore offer excellent incentives to entice college students to eat at their restaurants.
This means that you will likely find “college student special” nights, and “free taco Tuesday” or “Buy one get one free Pizza Mondays”.
The alternatives are virtually endless on how you can save money on your food costs while in college. The more creative and ingenious you can be, the better.
The Bottom Line
It pays to be smart with your college meal plan choices. You can save money in the meal plans you are required to buy, and then save even more money by realizing when to cut the cord, ditch your meal plan, and find your own food.
Happy eating!
When I started school, the meal plan was actually the deciding factor in whether or not I lived on campus. I could find apartments walking distance from campus fro roughly the cost of dorm housing, but the college required freshmen living in the dorms to have a meal plan. These expenses were NOT covered by my supposed “full ride” scholarship. (By the time I graduated, it didn’t even cover all academic costs). My mom and I did the math, and figured I could walk downtown (joy of living in Reno) and eat at a casino for every meal cheaper than eating on campus. We instead went with a plan of grocery shopping and making my own food, but the campus meal plan was ridiculously expensive.
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@Shanendoah- Glad you found a system that worked for you. It helps, when your campus is centrally located and you can easily walk most places. The campus I graduated from was very rural, and spread out, and a vehicle of some sort was almost required (or using public transit). It is interesting to note how scholarships unfortunately do not always inflate in coverage with the rising cost of tuition!
MoneyforCollegePro recently posted..Ditch your College Meal Plan to Save Money
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Back in the dark ages, the meal plans were ridiculously cheap. When I went to medical school, my roommates and I shared the cooking and grocery shopping. We had great meals, (lotsa grilling) at an inexpensive price.
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@Dr. Dean – Oh the good ol days of grilling out with the roommates! I also remember those days myself very well!. If you can find the right roommates, it can make your life a lot easier and allow you to save some serious money on food.
MoneyforCollegePro recently posted..Ditch your College Meal Plan to Save Money
I’ve had the opportunity to visit several campus food diners over the years… and yes, while there are some really cheap options, I’ve been to a couple where you could eat some outstanding food really cheaply. In fact, if I’m ever around Anaheim again, I’ll even make this a special trip for a meal… it was that good and that affordable.
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@Dr. Stock – That is impressive. The college I graduated from had decent food, but nothing to make a special trip for. I have visited Virginia Tech however, and they do have an EXCELLENT dining situation. I have not compared their prices, but their food is incredible!
MoneyforCollegePro recently posted..Ditch your College Meal Plan to Save Money
The problem is the alternative of saving money may not be great for your health. Most students do nt take the time to prepare a good meal.
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@Krantcents — You bring up an excellent point. College dining halls do employ nutritionists to ensure that healthy food options are at least available in the dining halls. Whether a student takes the time to eat healthy is up to them.
And learning to cook on your own can be challenging, which I suppose is why ramen noodles and canned food are staples among college students. So you are correct, from that perspective, you could view a college meal plan as an investment in your future health.
MoneyforCollegePro recently posted..Ditch your College Meal Plan to Save Money
This was actually one of the arguments I used when I tried to convince my parents to let me move off campus.
At my school, we had on campus apartments where the meal plan was optional. We were still able to buy points to spend at the student centers but we did not have to buy the meal plan. This worked out really well because I much preferred cooking on my own and it save money. Now my college (I still live near it) also has an Off Campus Meal Plan for all of the restaurants on Main St. If this had been around when I was in school, I absolutely would have gone with this.
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@Jana – It’s awesome to hear about the different options available at colleges around the country. And it is also great t know that many folks, such as yourself, have taken advantage of much cheaper dining alternatives! Thanks for sharing.
I have a college degree but never lived on campus where there was an opportunity to buy a meal plan.
I think most freshmen living in the dorms should buy the meal plan like you advise. Then evaluate the best option once you know the area and what’s available.
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@Kay Lynn – I think it would be an interesting study to look at the history of mandatory meal plans and mandatory living on campus as a Freshman. Just to see what that does for retention and graduation rates. I’m a nerd I know, but I think that kind of thing would be fascinating.
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