Free stuff:

• Residential Hall programs and SEB programs:  give away free stuff or free food almost all the time.

• Gameroom: Free Popcorn

• The Women’s Center: Free Tea, coffee, tampons, pads, condoms, microwave use and lactation pump usage for nursing mothers, also has a meditation room students can use for prayer

• Health Education/Peer Health Advocates(located on mezzanine level of Erickson Hall): Condoms (latex, latex-free, flavored, and lubricated) , dental dams, Health related posters, Confidential STD testing, BMI testing,free nutrition counseling from a registered dietitian, and also FREE smoking cessation services (appointments, products and classes are all free). 410-455-1558 for more info

• Tutorial Centers: Depending upon the class you are taking many departments have tutorial centers students can utilize free of charge. Spaces are usually limited so sign up early for a spot. Ex: Physics, Comp. Sci. (up to a certain level), Biology, and Chemistry, Math, and Writing all have tutorial centers . The Learning Resources center also provides tutoring for certain 100 and 200 level classes (see their website for the list)

http://www.umbc.edu/lrc/tutor/courses-tutored.htm

• UCS Counseling Services: Offers free short term group or individual counseling, couples counseling (both persons must be UMBC students though). UCS often has workshops on Time Management, Procrastination, Stress Management, and Test Anxiety that are also free.

• The RAC: The RAC offers free fitness classes but check with the RAC for their updated schedule because the courses offered and times and locations change each semester
• Residential Halls: (Applies to Residents of UMBC Reslife community only) can get free toilet paper at their communuty desk and free condoms(if available), they can rent out games, vacuums, cleaning supplies(if available) and snow-shovels. Carts can also be rented during move-in and move-out. Note: when a lot of people are moving in at once there might be a waiting list to use the carts.
  

Printing:

If you print things a lot on campus check with your department and see if there is a study center that has printing. Often people pay 10 cent a page to print at the library, or the Comm Store when it is cheaper or sometimes free to use printers in other areas on campus. Ex: Honors college students can print in their lounge in the library for free and biology students can print in the Biology tutorial center for only 5 cents a page. 

When the library computers are full and you are in emergency assignment printing mode try the International Media Center (I.M.C.) in AC IV, the Comm store in the UC, commonvision(3rd floor commons) or the engineering lab.

Last 30 credits on campus rule:

Actually if you are in a bind you can file a Verification of Transferability and Residency Waiver with the Office of the Registrar and get up to 8 credits(2 courses) of the final 30 credits transferred into UMBC from another school.

Note:the form requires an adviser's signature and that has to be completed three weeks before the start of the courses to allow for paperwork processing. Just keep in mind you can only transfer in 2 courses that are up to 8 credits in total so choose the ones you cannot get at all at UMBC.Check with the Office of the Registrar to see if they have any additional requirements not posted on their website.

http://registrar.umbc.edu/forms/transfer-request-forms/

The Comm Store:

The Comm store handles IDs, meal plans and mail. They do not do money orders or passport photos, they do however rent PO Boxes to students and staff, and they can scan papers, fax, mail and print.

Outdoor activites:

Apart from the R.A.C. Walker Av. Apartments has volleyball courts and the backside of True Grits by Harbor Hall has basketball courts. There is a rock garden next to the Commons garage. The rock garden has a bench with a weather journal in it for travelers of the hiking trails and students to sign when they visit. There are hiking trails around UMBC and a large pond called Pin Pen Pond you can go visit just outside the loop. UMBC also has a few geocaches nearby where students have hidden items for other geocache enthusiasts to find. There used to be 5 or 6 geocaches in the loop but I think most of them got swiped over the past few years …

UMBC Policies and Procedures:

The resident student association hosts a town hall meeting twice a year and brings in representatives from all over campus so students can address any concerns they have over policies and procedures at UMBC.  Reps from Reslife, IT and Facilities are pretty much always on the panel so if you want your voice heard then is the best time to do it. Previous town halls discussed the new parking system UMBC has now as well as Residential building planning so if you like to be in the know about the University that is a good meeting to attend.

Coke vs Pepsi

The Yum Shoppe is permitted to sell competitor product so if you need a quick fix of the current UMBC soda underdog visit the Yum Shoppe.

Course related exceptions:

1. You can request to test out of a course.
2. You can file an exception to sign up for two courses that overlap in time, but you need permission from both professors.
   
3. You can file a request to take more than 19.5 credits in a Fall/Spring semester, more than 8 credits in one of the two summer sessions, or more than 4.5 credits in a winter session.
4. You can request testing accommodations if you get test anxiety.
   
5. If you have a medical reason that makes it difficult for you to take notes you can request a note taker from the university.
   
6. If an honors section of a class isn't full, it's possible to be enrolled in the class even if you're not in the honors college by emailing the professor.
7. It is possible to add classes and drop them after the semester has ended by filing a petition for an exception to enrollment policy. They tend to be only granted for extreme circumstances.

Course Textbooks:

Some UMBC courses have textbooks you can rent from the library. I know a few people who cut course costs by making scans of the library textbooks and writing notes using them. 

Some professors also list books they do not actually require. This occurs sometimes for a myriad of reasons (no book required but prof had to put something down, prof forgot how the system worked etc). Some students like to wait a few classes to see if they need all the books on the syllabus.The problem with that is if you have an assigned reading due the first class you can perturb your professor by not being ready for class the first day. Assigned reading before the first day happens in upper level courses, not all first days are syllabus review. Also waiting to buy books tends to be more expensive online at places like amazon, etc if you buy them that late.

If students buy their books early and do not need them then they have to sell them. So word of advice, if you buy books/online course codes in advance do not mark in the books, do not break the seal on anything or do anything to it until you are sure you need it. If you break the seal on a UMBC bookstore book they do not give you a full refund, they will buy it back but it is considered used.

There is also a facebook page called UMBC Textbooks for Cheaper that students use to sell textbooks to other students. This allows the buyer to purchase the book for less than the bookstore would sell them for. For the seller they receive a higher sell back price than the bookstore would offer them.

Meal Plans and Campus Cash:

I used to see a lot of students with a ton of meal-plan flex money at the end of the semester.  Well if you don't use flex it is gone at the end of the semester, as in UMBC takes the money and you never see it again, ever. So most people with a ton of flex end up performing a mad dash to buy 25 dollar cases of soda and other things they do not want or need. The way around that is for the parents to get a meal plan with a usable amount of flex and add campus cash to the student's card to pick up the slack. Campus cash does not expire every semester. It stays on your card till you use it. Also flex can only be used for food on campus and at a few select off campus locations. There is also this thing called food funds you can add to your card. It works just like flex but doesn't expire.

Campus cards in general can be accepted at the following locations

• All campus food locations (Pub, Retriever Grill, Administration Building Coffee Shop)

• Paul's Restaurant, 5507 Oregon Avenue, Arbutus, Md. 21227

• Sorrento's of Arbutus, 5401 East Drive, Arbutus, Md. 21227

• Pantry 1, 5314 East Drive, Arbutus, MD. 21227Papa Johns, 1407 A Sulphur Spring Road, Arbutus, MD 21227
• Subway, 5520 Research Park, Baltimore, MD 21227
• On Air Café, 5525 Research Park, Baltimore, MD 21227 (Erickson Bldg)
• Peace of Pizza, 15 Mellor Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228
  

However Campus cash can be used at the following additional locations:

• Albin O. Kuhn Library for photo copying, printing, payment of fees and vending.
• UMBC Bookstore
• Multi-Media Center
• Engineering Computer Science Building (for copies)
• Residence Facilities for all vended applications, beverage and snack machines.
• Student Health Services for all fees.
• Athletic Facilities for access to facilities, fees and tickets

So parents give your student the gift of campus cash instead of food funds or an over-sized meal plan, that way they don't have to trade their friends a couple bag of cookies at outtakes for a dollar to print off an assignment due that day that they have no actual cash for. It is silly to do that and it happens all the time.

If you really want a meal plan Moshe Feldman was kind enough to do the math and noticed if you can afford the extra $126 for a year, the 200 block is  better than the terrific 10 from a $ per meal standpoint.

These are the prices for 2012-2013 (http://www.umbc.edu/reslife/apply/rates.html):Super

200 Block Meal Plan     $3,364

Terrific 10 Meal Plan     $3,238

Flexible 10 Meal Plan     $3,704

Edit: Removed section on recycling. Evidently they switched back to dual stream since I graduated :-/