The Campus Meal Plan. For all students living on campus, the only choice is which of the six levels to pick from. The meal plan is convenient: swipe your card at any of the dining halls and grab as many plates as you can fit on your tray and at a minimum two drinks. Then go back for more. And at a-la-carte dining options your meal plan gets you a 65% discount on prepared items. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, right?

We’ll see.

Below is a table with the prices of Campus Meal Plan levels for this year.

For each, you pay a base cost of $1,295 plus one dollar for every Dining Dollar. But while this table may seem to indicate that each Dining Dollar is equal to one US dollar, this is in fact a bit misleading. Calculating the total cost per dining dollar (dividing the Total Cost by number of Dining Dollars) yields the following results:

In fact, you’re actually paying somewhere in the range of two to three US dollars for every Dining Dollar.

Now let’s take a look at the prices at the all-you-care-to-eat dining commons.

At first glance, the Campus Meal Plan certainly looks good; only $1.95 for breakfast! But what if you’re on meal plan Level 1, where each Dining Dollar is equivalent to almost 3 US dollars?

This table shows the equivalencies between Dining Dollars and US dollars. In fact, the Campus Meal Plan is not much of a discount at all for the lower tiers. For example, dinner with Level 1 is equivalent to $13.01 US dollars–almost the cash price and actually higher than the Lion Cash+ cost (which gives you a 10% discount but has an equal conversion with US dollars). The midrange meal plan tiers offer a modest discount, and as expected the highest tier yields the largest discount.

But that’s only for all-you-care-to-eat dining commons. What about those awesome paninis from Redifer? The cash price of a panini is $6.99, but when you use your meal plan it’ll ring up as a measly $2.45. But that $2.45 is equivalent to $7.32 US dollars with a Level 1 plan or $6.44 with Level 3. Not much of a discount after all. With the 10% discount for using Lion Cash+, that $6.99 panini would only cost $6.29 US dollars. A small difference, but significant. Even with the advertised 65% discount, you can pay more than the cash price with your meal plan–that’s not a discount at all.

Worse yet, you can use your meal plan Dining Dollars at other places, like the Creamery or the Burger King at the HUB. There’s no discount for meal plan purchases at these locations, so you’re paying anywhere from 2 to 3 times as much for your meal! On one occasion I went to Burger King, unaware that Dining Dollars could be used there. I handed over my student ID, and the receipt came back listing a payment method of Campus Meal Plan, and no one even asked whether I intended to use Lion Cash+ or Dining Dollars. So that $4 egg sandwich really cost me $10.52. That’s an expensive breakfast!

So to everyone I simply recommend being conscious of this fact. Yes, the Campus Meal Plan is convenient and required, but it has better uses than others. Unless you have to use up Dining Dollars at the end of the year or you’re in an emergency, never use your meal plan Dining Dollars for anything that isn’t discounted. Your base cost covers the cost of operating the dining commons, so why give that money to somewhere else?