Before taking a medical leave from school in 2004, I lived in a dorm.
There were two types of meal plans:
1. You had so many points. You could, if I remember correctly, choose from three different. Each meal had a certain point value. One was for those that typically didn't eat breakfast, and basically the three depended on your schedule and type of eater you were. Also, included was a $50 value for any food places on campus.
2. You had no points, but rather a dollar value instead. You could put this amount towards meals in the dinning hall or any place on campus.
Within the dorm we had a "C-Store" (convenient store).
So your choices were: All you can eat in the dinning hall, "fast-food" from the on campus restaraunts, or nothing but processed foods from the C-Store.
I'm not sure how common this is in other colleges, but what I found most helpful was that in our rooms, we were permitted a mini-fridge and a microwave.
I had a little bit of extra money from a part-time on campus job, so I decided to grocery shop at a regular grocery store - I used the dollar value on my ID card for the other things such as toiletries (sp?), OTC meds, etc.
This allowed me to spend the same amount but choose from a better selection of foods - however much microwavable food you can choose from (though there was a kitchen you could reserve for a couple of hours which had a stove).
So, if anyone lives in a dorm, my best suggestion would be to try and shop at a regular grocery store if at all possible and avoid campus food as much as possible. The dinning hall was all you can eat, which can be very dangerous.
Even with doing that, I was in a crazy way with food. It was very easy access for binge food.
- - - - - - -
I just started back to a community college Fall 2006.
I'm currently living on my own as well as working full time during the days during the week, meaning classes are in the evening.
My first semester was pretty tough since I was going four evenings a week and only had 1/2 an hour at home between work and class.
Spring semester (due to start in a couple of weeks) will be a little less hectic as I'm only going twice during the week (though 3 hours each on both nights) - however on those two nights I will have the same half hour in between.
Because my job doesn't pay much, I don't have much money to begin with, but as I'm sure most (if not all) are aware, health(ier) foods aren't very cheep.
On school nights I've found that I don't have much time to grab something to eat - and I stay away from the cafe there (besides that I can't afford it lol). I know I could take something with me, probably, but I struggle with eating in front of others, so I tend to wait until I get home, which leaves me completely ravenous.
I know we have a fitness center there - however I'm not sure if it's class-only use or if it's open to all students for personal use. The things that stop me are:
1. Feeling completely mortified to ask - even if it's just calling on the phone.
2. I feel very self-conscious about exercising in front of people at the moment.
When I started back, I thought it'd help change my eating habits due to a busy schedule, but so far hasn't. I need to find a medium for those school nights so I'm not on the verge of passing out, eat everything in site upon coming home, etc.
Heh, sorry this was a bit long...