Let's begin with the two most expensive plans: the Carte Blanche and the "24-meal per week." They cost the exact same: $2,299. Think about it, 24 meals a week means you can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Leo's, seven days a week, and still have 3 meals left over for Late Night on a weeknight. Now I know that you GTown partiers would never go to breakfast on a Saturday or Sunday, so I think it's fair to say that you'd have pretty much every single meal covered, even if you were a Late Night fan. Lucky you. So now what do you get by switching that to the "Carte Blanche"? Well for one, a fancy French phrase meaning "blank card/slate" or something like that, I don't do French during the summer. Well the only added bonus that I can see is that you are allowed to go back into Leo's multiple times during a single meal period. And I know of probably 2 instances all last year where I would have liked that... So, honestly, probably not really a big deal. However, you don't lose anything with the "Carte Blanche," with the exception of 100 Flex Dollars that could certainly be very useful. My pick: 24- meal plan.
Next up: the 14-meal vs. 10-meal plan.
I have personal experience with this. I had a 14-meal plan during the fall semester and switched to a 10-meal for the spring. I found that I consistently had 1 or 2 meals left over on Friday and felt like I could cut a few more out of my week if I needed to. So I did. How? Most of all, I stopped eating breakfast at Leo's. I sometimes ate a granola bar, or bowl of oatmeal, or some Honey Nut Cheerios in my room before my first class, then went to Leo's for lunch. In addition, I was off-campus for probably over half the weekends of the spring semester, due either to tournaments or going other places. As a result, I generally only ate Sunday dinner at Leo's, and then could eat all but one lunch and dinner there during the week, and it wasn't difficult to make myself pasta or get Wisey's once a week. These two options are very practical for students who don't need to eat a ton, every meal, every day. If you're on campus for weekends, the 14-meal is a great bet, and gives you the flexibility to eat breakfast on occasion if you like. If you try to avoid Leo's sometimes, but still feel the need to get there to get some quality gourmet dining, the 10-meal plan should suffice.
Now for: the Blocks
Georgetown Dining introduced two new block plans for next semester: the 180-meal and the 135-meal, to go with the traditional 75 and 45. After a bit of research, I have determined that a semester (at least in dining terms, cause who cares about classes) is 16 weeks long. That means that a 180 block plan will get you, on average, 11.25 meals per week. That seems like a very reasonable number, and leaves you plenty of flexibility. The 135 plan averages out to 8.44 meals/week, 75 is 4.69, and 45 is 2.81. You should try to figure out how often you think you'll be eating at Leo's next semester, and if you think it will be irregular, a block plan may be best for you. Of course, remember that only juniors and seniors (and RAs, yay!) are allowed to purchase a block plan.
Moving on: prices:
Assuming a 16-week semester: this is the total cost of each plan, as well as its average per meal
Please note that I am subtracting the value of any included Flex dollars from the listed prices, as I consider that to be real money, so you are essentially buying money. (just be sure to use it all)
Carte Blanche: $2,299. Sorry, but that divided by infinity isn't well defined. If you consider eating every meal there, including all late nights, that's 26 meals per week, which is $5.53/meal. Pretty cheap, but make sure you read my notes above.
24 Meal Plan: $2,199 plus $100 flex. $5.73/meal
14 Meal Plan: $1,967 plus $75 flex. $8.78/meal
10 Meal Plan: $$1,736 plus $50 flex. $10.85/meal
180 Block: $1,934 plus $50 flex. $10.74/meal
135 Block: $1,634 plus $100 flex. $12.10/meal
75 Block: $891. $11.88/meal
45 Block: $641. $14.24/meal
For reference, here are the door prices per meal, from Georgetown Dining.
Breakfast: $9.55
Lunch/Brunch: $11.55
Dinner: $13.75
In case you didn't figure it out, it would be cheaper for you to pay cash every time you went to Leo's than
My personal opinions:
1) The 14-meal plan is a great option for rising sophomores or anyone living on campus. As long as you think you're going to eat 12+ meals a week, it's a better value than the blocks, and you don't have to worry so much about rationing out your 180 or whatever.
2) 10-meal and 75-block have a good value. If this seems like the amount of meals that you would eat, I recommend them. Consider that 75-meals is just under 5 meals a week.
3) The 135 is the most contentious, for myself at least. It seems like a perfect number of meals for me, but the per-meal price is less than desirable. Still not convinced either way, but it's an option.
I hope this will help some of you decide what meal-plan will be best suited toward allowing yourself to enjoy the full Leo's experience next semester. If you have any contributions, comments, or questions, please let us know. Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your summer!
