Drury Communities

I was wondering which meal plans were the most common for students living on campus before I decide which one to opt for.

What are parents thinking?

Are there any current Drury students who live on campus that could help to give me an idea of how many meals you actually use in a given semester? I'm leaning toward the 90 block plan, but I want to make sure that's enough.

This is a good question - I'd love to see some responses as well. I'm transferring to Drury in the fall, and was thinking of either the 90 or 120 block plan.

Your decision is going to have to be based on the eating habits (or preferences) of the student. Some like to snack a lot through the day, and will likely get by with a lighter meal plan. Those coddled types that have come to expect three square meals a day will require one of the more complete meal plans!

I have had the pleasure of eating commons and CX food for five semesters now - here are some good questions to ask:

What will I want for breakfast and how early am I willing to get up to suffice those wants?

A lot of the "breakfast type" food that students consume in the beginning of the day is stuff that can be stored in a room and/or is easy to prepare. If you're living in an apartment there is a good chance breakfast is something you will do on your own. So that already cuts you down to two meals a day (provided you're a traditional three-meals-a-day person).

How often will I eat out (especially on the weekends)?

During the week most students eat two/three meals a day on campus. If you like to go off campus to dine (as do most students on the weekends) - be conscious of how this will affect the numbers of meals you eat on campus per week. Some students may only eat one or two meals on campus the entire weekend. This is also because of the fact that dinning facilities on campus close at normal evening hours. Most generally student's weekend day starts later and ends later than a week day :).

Is your lifestyle/schedule more accommodating to the commons (cafeteria style/all you can eat)
or the CX (smaller, fastfood-type entrees w/ a variety of snacks)?

I ask this because many students will find themselves forced to eat at the CX more often than they would like because of the hours of the commons. The commons closes at 6:30 every night. If you're not ready to eat dinner by then - well then you have to go else where. I often am craving a full meal (salad, main course w/ a wide variety of sides, dessert) by the evening hours but usually not till 7ish. This forces me to either make my own dinner in my apartment, go out to eat, or go to the CX. If I don't adapt my schedule to eat earlier than I find myself funning out of CX money earlier than expected and I have left over commons meals.

Bottom line:
The commons offers the widest variety of food and often the healthiest choices but it is limited by its hours of operation. The CX offers food-to-go and smaller snacks but it has the most flexibility in hours (opens at 7:30ish AM and closes at 11:00 PM). I would buy a smaller amount of meals (say 90) and then be prepared to add on Panther bucks (which can be used at either the commons or CX) to add flexibility.

I hope that made sense!

Our son--a freshman--signed up for the 150 meal plan for this first year. He "lost" a lot of these at the end of the first semester. I don't really know how many; I'm not sure he knew. My observation is that he rarely--maybe never--ate breakfast at the Commons. He always has that kind of food in his dorm room. He also came home more weekends than we had expected. So there were a lot of missed meals. Plus, he joined a fraternity and I think he and some of his pledge brothers ate out often.

Wow, these are all great suggestions - thank you for all of the input.

davekc, your situation kind of describes one of the things that I worry about - I want to make sure my child has enough to eat, but I'd hate to see a bunch of meals go wasted. I guess we'll just have to look at eating habits and social schedules, then just try to make the best call from there.

Anyway, thank you all again for the input! It's been extremely helpful!

Meal plans can be used in the commons. To decide on the number to purchase, think about how many times you'll be eating there. Most students don't get up for breakfast - so lunch and dinner, 5 days a week for (on average) 16 weeks would be 80 meals for school days. I usually eat out on the weekends or order pizza or Jimmy Johns with friends.

Panther bucks can be used in the CX. The CX is more convenient for lunch or dinner if you are on the south side of campus. A meal in the CX is about $5 - so you can calculate about what would be spent for some of the meals to be at the CX.

90 meals is enough for me, especially considering that you also have $190 Panther Bucks for the CX. I try to divide the meals and Panther bucks into the number of weeks in the semester, and stick to it, so that I come out about right at the end of the semester. Once I started out the semester with a larger meal plan, not eating nearly enough, and had lots of unused meals at the end of the semester.

I get the biggest meal plan I can because I like to eat a lot!!!