Don’t pick your meal plan without research
Coming to BG as freshman, I was completely unaware what each meal plan included. Traditional bronze, custom gold, silver retail…what!?
I had no idea what any of these terms meant, and if I researched them a little more I would have found the perfect one. I picked the meal plan that contained swipes and the least amount of Falcon Dollars.
After my first few weeks into the semester, I realized the dining halls were not my first choice when deciding what I wanted to eat. I preferred to snack and eat in the Union and the Pub as opposed to sitting down for a buffet. I gave the plan another week to redeem itself, but by then it was too late to change meal plans.
I know the problem was self-inflicted, but now I am as broke as a college student could ever be. I am completely out of Falcon Dollars.
A possible solution would be to swipe for the rest of the semester. Sadly, I only have five swipes per week on my plan, not even one for every day of the week, let alone breakfast and dinner in one day.
The bronze plan was supposed to keep me full all semester. I came to the realization that I wasn’t woofing down $750 worth of food for no reason.
Take a look at the prices of any item in Outtakes and compare them to Walmart or Kroger. $7 for a box of Special K cereal on campus; $3.44 at Walmart. A 13-ounce jar of Nutella at Walmart was priced at $3.28; at Outtakes, $6.
If the brand-name products are too expensive, then I’m sure most of the students would be fine with an off brand. I, however, think not being able to eat when I need to is a big deal.