Pay-as-you-eat
The various pay-as-you-eat (or nosh-for-dosh) schemes are the compromise.
Usually these schemes are backed up with at least half-decent catering facilities so that students can cook for themselves if they want, but if they’d rather not die of food poisoning, they can resort to the cafeteria (more usually called the refectory) where they pay only when they eat.
There’s often a convoluted voucher scheme involved and sometimes certain meals are pay-as-you-eat while others are paid-for-already-so-you-might-as-well-eat.
The disadvantage of these schemes versus full catering is that most don’t guarantee to feed you when your readies run dry. However, that’s rarely a problem.
Last updated on: 21 May 2008