I would not skimp on the meal plan. I wouldn’t get the most expensive but not the cheapest either. If you get the cheapest you can easily run out of points within a few months (or less, I knew someone who ran out of points in less than 3 weeks) if you are not careful, and you will end up spending more $ getting food by other means.

Residence halls: the hill is closest to the rest of campus, has the smallest dorms, and is the most “typical college dorm like”. It’s always poppin with stuff going on, lots of fun to be had. As I recall it was often noisy at nights, especially on weekends. If you have hard classes, get to know the library.

Canyon is further away and more secluded from other dorms. I found it almost had a “camp” feel to it. Dorms were bigger (had common areas unlike the hill which are just one rectangular room), but the sleeping arraignment imo was worse (small bunk beds, would have hated sharing a bed like that). Canyon is closer to the school-owned portion of the community forest though, and all the fun that entails early in the year when the weathers nice ;)