So last year College Boy was on the 14 meal a week Meal Plan at college. And for both semesters he didn't eat all his weekly meals. (Each week starts fresh with 14 meals and none of them carry over to the following week in this plan.) His schedule(both his practice schedule and his wake/sleep cycle) were so screwy that he couldn't get to the dining hall but infrequently.
He's funny about eating......he'll not eat for awhile but then gorge himself at a meal then he'll skip 2-3 meals.....so he was only eating 10 meals a week.
I hate wasting money so this year we moved him to a Meal Plan which isn't so structured so he can eat his allotted meals in whichever weeks he wants without loosing a significant number of them after each week is over.
The problem with this different plan is that it is equivalent to the 10 meal a week Meal Plan(meaning he gets 10 meals per week-or 2 meals per day average during the week and no meal son weekends). He ate so little at the dining halls last year that 10 meals a week Meal Plan should have gotten him through the semester(with the addition of all the extra food I sent with him in the Fall) but it was going to be close.
Well it wasn't close at all.
He told me on Tuesday that they informed him at the dining hall that he was out of meals for the semester, Nov. 17th. He still has 20 days left in the semester to eat there, so just short of 3 weeks left of dining.
For some reason unknown to God and man College Boy decided this semester to go from hardly eating at all to eating 3 or 4 meals a day.
FOUR MEALS A DAY??!??
I reminded him that he is NOT a HOBBIT and does not require FOURTH MEAL daily!
Plus he's been NOT going to the dining hall(where he can get seconds and thirds and fourths at a sitting)and has been going to the contracted(1 meal and out)venues on campus so he's not filling up and then having to grab something else(another meal on his card)to get through the day.
So I had to put Money on his ID card so he can eat for the rest of the semester....$300 worth.
This means that I have now paid the equivalent of a full 19 meals a week Meal Plan(but have gotten far from that amount of food for him).
Sigh.
They don't have a Flex Week Plan on the 14 meal a week level so I guess we are going back to a structured 14 meal a week Meal Plan for the Spring Semester. I just hope he can deal with eating all 14 meals per week since they won't carry over on this plan. A Flex 14 Meal Plan would be perfect for him if he knocks off that 4 meals a day thing but of course they don't offer that. 8-(
You try to save where you can but then your kids change their behaviors and it bites you in the ass.
2.5 more years of this and I am done!
Sluggy
Won't it be nice when the boy is feeding/paying for food himself? Kids just don't seem to understand the true cost until they have to start taking care of themselves. Funny, ever since my stepdaughter lives on her own( *technically we still pay room and board for her and school fees but nothing else) she seems to have gotten thriftier.
ReplyDeleteYep and nothing wrong with him using this own money to pay for food. I gave all 3 of my kids a budget to work with. My daughters both found part time jobs and still managed to get good grades. We didn't pay for anything below a C in coursework. My kids all left the dorm after sophomore year though and just worked with a budget we provided for rent/utilities/foo in a shared apartment. They really learned the value of a buck- if you want steak, you have to scrimp somewhere in the budget LOL. We paid for phone,health and auto insurance too.
DeleteBless his hungry heart.
ReplyDeleteWe are at the end of the race just keep plugging along. So what drink will you be celebrating with when you are free of the college crap? Don't say all of them.
Kids can't kill them but you have to feed them. Just want you to know mine ( the last one graduates December 12th! ) Neener, neener, neener.
ReplyDeleteYou brat! 8-P
DeleteTechnically, hobbits eat six meals a day. Just sayin' :P
ReplyDeleteCould he have started feeding someone else? Hopefully, you will still be relatively sane in 2.5 years.
ReplyDeleteWe have only 1.5 years of college before our last is done (He is talking about a Master's program which I hope he decides to do, but unfortunately for him, it will be his nickel funding it) This year he moved to an apartment and is preparing his own meals, mostly. When he decides to eat out, he has to pay for it and he is not so keen on spending his money. I have been surprised how frugal he has become with cooking and his grocery money.
ReplyDeleteSecond breakfast is to die for!!!
ReplyDeleteFortunately for my girl, her college has unlimited eating at the caf. It's included in the room/board part of her tuition. Otherwise I would really only need to pay for granola bars and string cheese...So win win! ;)
Yikes it's hard to predict how the kid will eat! Meri sometimes eats breakfast at the high school and it ticks off her lunch money pretty quickly. EAT A BAGEL AT HOME KID!!!!
Don't even get me started. I just do the $$$ for however many meals. When it runs out, we buy more. Those x meals per week plan are ripoffs, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWell he certainly got his appetite back didn't he?!!!
ReplyDeleteAfter all, it is in their job description.
ReplyDelete