[quote name='Chika']my college had 3 meal plans
1) 19 meals/week
2) 15 meals/week plus $50/semester ala carte to use in the cafe (cafeteria was $7.25 if you went over 15 meals)
3) 10 meals/week plus $150/semester ala carte.[/QUOTE]
That sounds very similar to what my university uses.
Once you're upperclass, you have the option of switching to 50/100/200/etc meals per semester and using them whenever you want. A lot of people prefer that so they go when they're too busy to cook.
The staff at least gets $150/semester ala carte too. We can use it a lot of places. Qdoba, Wendys, Uno's, a lot of the local 24 hour convience store, etc.