Change is inevitable at the beginning of any school year. This year in particular brings a slew of obvious changes ranging from the obvious green space in O’Neil Plaza to the change to the dining plan.
When the new dining plan was announced, stating that the residential dining plan will not be accepted at Hillside Café or any of the new mini marts across campus, many people were outraged.
In fact, there were even petitions going around online hoping to stop this atrocity from actually taking place. However, what most people didn’t realize was that the change wasn’t that big of a deal.
You see the mandatory dining plan offers students living on Upper Campus, Newton Campus, Walsh, 66, Greycliff, Vandy, 90 and the Gate a combination of a residential dining plan with dining bucks. According to the BC dining website, the hope of the program is to allow students to purchase what they want, when they want.
The residential dining plan money can still be used at Lower Live, Addie’s, The Rat, Stuart, Café 129 on Brighton Campus, Mac, and Eagle’s Nest.
Sure, the majority of the money ($2,234) goes towards the residential dining plan, but if you budget your money wisely enough, you’ll still be able to grab your favorite Hillside special, since $175 is given each semester towards dining bucks.
While you may not be able to treat yourself to your favorite panini or have a side of frips every day, at least you’ll be able to sit down and enjoy it on the days that you do indulge, since the goal of this plan is to reduce the foot traffic.
Of course, there will be weeks that are more stressful than others, so if you do happen to run out of your dining bucks before the end of the semester, you can always use a few of your optional dining bucks or Eagle bucks.
If all else fails, befriend an off campus junior or senior and have them buy you lunch with their Flex plan.
Photo Sources:
http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/dining/mealplan/flex.html