Do you have a hard time keeping those flex points and meal swipes until the end of the semester? Are you new to using a Meal Plan and not sure how to prioritize your meals? Well, you are not the only one to experience this, as many students have trouble budgeting their Cardinal Card. Today, I want to discuss how you can use your Cardinal Card in the most effective way possible.
Get to know your plan
Have you had it before? Was is useful or do you need more/less swipes and flex points?
For returning students, it is easier to recognize if their meal plan is right for them or not. It’s important to note if you ran out of meal swipes way before a semesters end or had too many flex points and not sure how to spend them. For new students, it’s best to start with a basic plan, if you aren’t too sure which plan to use.
How many swipes/flex points can you use a week?
Resident and Commuter students get offered different plans and most plans have both meal swipes and flex points. If you go to https://louisville.edu/cardinalcard/meal-plan-101-1, you can find your available meal plans and how many meal swipes you should try to use a week, so that you can use them all by the end of the semester. For flex, if you plan on using them every week, you can divide the amount by the number of weeks we have of school.
Recognize all the dining options on Campus
What places do you like to eat?
Our school offers a large array of dining options located all throughout our campus. The best way to save you points and swipes is to not constantly go to places that are more costly. Something that some students do their first year is go to the Ville Grill every day, which is fine if they had unlimited swipes there, but if they don’t, it can drain much of the swipes and points they have. So, take a look at all the options.
Where can you use swipes?
After you have picked your favorite places, or spots you want to try, you may want to know how to use your meal swipes. On the site https://louisville.campusdish.com/, you can go to meal swipe combos and see how meal swipes can be used at different places.
What are your food goals?
Do you want to eat more vegetables? Do you want to eat less fast food? Are you vegan/vegetarian/keto?
With there being different food options all around campus, you should be able to find something you like. If you need help planning, your meals or discussing your goals you can contact our campus dietician, Ethan at ethan.mattingly@louisville.edu.
How will you use your Card?
Now that you have read all this, here are a few more tips.
• Try to stay in the limit per week.
• If you use more or less of your meal plan, don’t worry.
• Budgeting isn’t easy
• If you are not comfortable with your meal plan, don’t be afraid to change it at https://louisville.edu/cardinalcard/meal-plan-form Before the deadline (August 27, 2020 @ 4p.m)
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