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Old 07-06-2012 at 04:02 PM   #1
Aaliyah
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Off-campus
Hello I'm a first year student. I didn't get residence so I'm living off-campus. As a first-year, off-campus student, will it be advisable that I get a meal plan? :S thanks.... any opinions will be helpful
Old 07-06-2012 at 04:12 PM   #2
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I would not recommend it, I found it was a waste of money if you get the same one as regular res students, although there is a special one for off campus that has much less money in it.

The only benefit of a meal plan is that the stuff you buy using it is tax free, besides that there isnt any benefit. If you plan on doing lots of cooking, it may not be worth it and it may be cheaper just to pay when you want food rather than investing a lot at once and forcing yourself to use it so it doesn't expire
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Old 07-06-2012 at 04:15 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaliyah View Post
Hello I'm a first year student. I didn't get residence so I'm living off-campus. As a first-year, off-campus student, will it be advisable that I get a meal plan? :S thanks.... any opinions will be helpful
Depends if you are willing to (learn to) cook or not. If you plan on just buying food on campus everyday then you should get a meal plan. If you don't, it's still worth putting 100$ on your meal card and refilling it whenever you need more. I spent around 100$ every year for on-campus food for those days I had to stay late to work in groups and stuff like that.
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Old 07-06-2012 at 04:16 PM   #4
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If you're living off campus I wouldn't buy a meal plan. I lived in residence last year and I bought the cheapest meal plan and still couldn't use it all.

I believe you can just add money to your student card (e.g $100 at a time or so - it's called flex or freedom dollars I think) I am living off campus this coming year and that is what I plan on doing so I don't have to carry around cash all the time.

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Old 07-06-2012 at 04:30 PM   #5
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Thanks for all the opinions. For the student card, Is it also tax free when you buy food using the student account? :$
Old 07-06-2012 at 04:32 PM   #6
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I'm pretty sure it is still tax free as long as you are using your student card!
Old 07-06-2012 at 04:34 PM   #7
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Quote:
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I'm pretty sure it is still tax free as long as you are using your student card!
no. once you add money on your card, you have to sign some form to make it tax free.

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Old 07-06-2012 at 04:36 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaliyah View Post
Thanks for all the opinions. For the student card, Is it also tax free when you buy food using the student account? :$
Only from the basic account I believe. Flex is taxed, and Freedom I'm not sure about. I know I don't pay tax on campus using Freedom, but off-campus I'm not sure.
Old 07-06-2012 at 04:36 PM   #9
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Quote:
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no. once you add money on your card, you have to sign some form to make it tax free.
Learn something new everyday! do you just do that when you go to add more money?
Old 07-06-2012 at 04:36 PM   #10
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For on-campus students, they have a basic account and flex account which gives them 13% off. Off-campus students have a term plan which also gives 13% off but can also just put any amount of money on their freedom account (First one has to be atleast 100$ though) and get 5% off.
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Old 07-06-2012 at 04:37 PM   #11
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res adn aoff campus students have different meal plans. res students are required to buy a student plan which has a set amount of money allocated to it depending on the size and the res you are in. off campus students are not required to buy a meal plan but there are several versions available. probably the best and simplest is adding any amount of money you wish to your freedom account as you go along. the difference between the meal plans also exists on the discount (tax deduction you get) i beleive that res meal plans have no tax where as off campus have half the tax.

here is a link to information on both the res and off campus meal plans http://hospitality.mcmaster. ca/mealplan/students.html

note: if you do end up going into the freedom remember 2 things; you will need to first put in 100$ but then you can add how ever much you want (i usually do 50 every time is ABOUT to run out), and dont let the plan reach 0, its going to be a pain to fill it up again as you will have to go into campus hospitality and fill out a form and put 100 on it again (you will also have to fill that form out the first time you fill it up)

and... (i wouldnt do the other off camps plan they have its just a scam, you add 200 first and it lasts for 4 weeks - if you dont use it up then its lost at the end of the 4 weeks - you can extend that time limit by filling it up, min 55 each time and that term is extended by another 1 week. If ever that term ends and you dont refill you will loose what ever you had on that card)
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Old 07-06-2012 at 05:38 PM   #12
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I dont remember if you can just load up X amount of dollars to your card. Honestly it is only good for some inbetween class snacks.
Old 07-06-2012 at 06:09 PM   #13
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thank you everyone for their opinions. I think I'm going to go with the freedom plan for off-campus as I can put money in it at any time. THANK YOU

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Old 07-07-2012 at 10:37 PM   #14
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I didn't realize the freedom plan existed, so glad I learned something as well! I am defintley doing that for this year
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Old 07-10-2012 at 03:01 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chevalier View Post
res adn aoff campus students have different meal plans. res students are required to buy a student plan which has a set amount of money allocated to it depending on the size and the res you are in. off campus students are not required to buy a meal plan but there are several versions available. probably the best and simplest is adding any amount of money you wish to your freedom account as you go along. the difference between the meal plans also exists on the discount (tax deduction you get) i beleive that res meal plans have no tax where as off campus have half the tax.

here is a link to information on both the res and off campus meal plans http://hospitality.mcmaster. ca/mealplan/students.html

note: if you do end up going into the freedom remember 2 things; you will need to first put in 100$ but then you can add how ever much you want (i usually do 50 every time is ABOUT to run out), and dont let the plan reach 0, its going to be a pain to fill it up again as you will have to go into campus hospitality and fill out a form and put 100 on it again (you will also have to fill that form out the first time you fill it up)

and... (i wouldnt do the other off camps plan they have its just a scam, you add 200 first and it lasts for 4 weeks - if you dont use it up then its lost at the end of the 4 weeks - you can extend that time limit by filling it up, min 55 each time and that term is extended by another 1 week. If ever that term ends and you dont refill you will loose what ever you had on that card)
Huh, that's odd. I use the freedom account during the school year and I've never had to fill out a form once I've run out, I just add more online when that occurs...



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