How to Calculate Exactly How Many Swipes You Need Per Week

The Freshman 21

When you arrive at freshman orientation, the university strongly encourages you to buy the "21-Swipe-Per-Week" meal plan. Their logic makes sense: 3 meals a day x 7 days a week = 21 meals. You need to eat, right?

The 21-swipe plan costs $3,200 a semester.

By October, you realize you have a massive problem.

You sleep through breakfast every day (Lost 7 swipes).

On Friday night, you order a pizza with friends (Lost 1 swipe).

On Saturday, you sleep until 1 PM and only eat lunch and dinner (Lost 1 swipe).

You are only using 12 swipes a week. You are wasting 9 swipes every single week. At $10 a swipe, you are setting $90 on fire every 7 days.

The Behavioral Audit

Before you buy a meal plan, you must perform a ruthless audit of your actual human behavior, not your "ideal" behavior.

Are you an 8:00 AM person? If you schedule classes for 10:00 AM and sleep until 9:30 AM, you will never eat dining hall breakfast. Immediately cross 7 meals off your week.

Do you go home on weekends? If you live 45 minutes from campus and go home twice a month to do laundry, you are wasting 6 meals a weekend.

Do you have a kitchen? If you live in an apartment-style dorm with a stove, you will invariably cook pasta at least three nights a week because you will get sick of cafeteria food.

The "14-Swipe" Sweet Spot

For 90% of college students, the 14-Swipe-Per-Week plan is the mathematical sweet spot.

It covers lunch and dinner, 7 days a week. If you occasionally wake up early and want breakfast, you can pay a $7 entrance fee at the door with a credit card. Paying a $7 fee three times a month is infinitely cheaper than upgrading to the 21-swipe plan which costs an extra $500 a semester.

The Strategy: Always buy one tier lower than you think you need. It is always cheaper to buy groceries or pay out-of-pocket for occasional extra meals than it is to pre-pay the university for food you will sleep through.