College · Family Resources · First year

The meals you
pay for and the
meals you eat.

Type how many dining hall meals you will really eat and the plans on offer. The calculator counts the meals each plan wastes or leaves you short, adds what you would buy at the door, and shows the true cost of each meal eaten.

Compare the plansWhat you get

The meal plan calculator

The worked example is made up: four plans at a residential campus for a student who eats 12 dining hall meals a week. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

College · Family ResourcesFree

What you finish with
For each plan, the meals used, wasted and bought at the door, the total cost for the term and the cost per meal eaten, with the cheapest plan for how you eat. It prints as a summary and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Incoming college students, their families, and students choosing a plan for next term.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Up to 12 plans. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Family Resources space in Caveat College.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type the weeks in the term, the meals you will eat a week and the walk-in price.
  2. Add each plan with its price, its meals and any dining dollars.
  3. Read which plan is cheapest for how you eat, and the cost per meal.
  4. Try one more or one fewer meal a week to see how sensitive it is.
  5. Print the summary or download the spreadsheet.

Compare the plans

How the cost per meal is worked out

Price, plus the shortfall, less dining dollars, over meals eaten.

The worked example: the block of 150Meals you will eat18012 a week × 15 weeksBlock covers15030 more at $12Total$2,410$2,300 + $360 − $250 dining dollarsPer meal eaten$13.39$2,410 ÷ 180The worked example: the block of 150Meals you will eat18012 a week × 15 weeksBlock covers15030 more at $12Total$2,410$2,300 + $360 − $250 dining dollarsPer meal eaten$13.39$2,410 ÷ 180
A block plan leaves no meals to waste but may run short; the shortfall is bought at the door and added to the price.

The arithmetic

Meals needed are meals a week times weeks. A weekly plan provides its meals each week and loses the ones not used; a block provides a fixed number for the term. When a plan falls short, the extra meals are bought at the walk-in price. Dining dollars are subtracted because they are money you would spend on food anyway. Dividing the total by meals eaten gives the real price of each one.

Before you choose

Many colleges require first-year residents to buy a plan, set a minimum, or allow changes only during the first weeks. The meal plan is part of the cost of attendance that financial aid uses, so a cheaper plan can lower what you pay, not what aid assumes. Your estimate of meals eaten is the number that decides the answer.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid. Cost of attendance, including food and housing (studentaid.gov).
  2. U.S. Department of Education, College Navigator (nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator): published food and housing costs by college.
  3. Higher Education Act of 1965, section 472 (20 U.S.C. 1087ll): cost of attendance includes an allowance for food.
  4. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Paying for college: comparing costs (consumerfinance.gov).

The worked example is made up. Use your college’s plans and rules. Your figures stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.