An overview: Meal plans on campus

Hello everyone, it’s Megan!

One of the many questions you have to make as an incoming Lute concerns which meal plan you should get. If you’re like me, you’re not really familiar with the idea of meal plans or what that means for your day-to-day life on campus. So, this week’s blogpost is going to be a brief overview of meal plans; what they are, which options are available, and when you should consider terminating your meal plan. Hopefully, by the end of this you’ll have a little more information about which meal plan is right for you!

Old Main Market: one of the three coffee shops on campus. Photo: H. Doan

First things first: who needs meal plans? The answer is everyone who lives on campus. So, all students with an active housing assignment must enroll in one of the following four meal plans: A, B, C or D. There are exceptions for residents of South Hall and Kreidler, as these dorms are usually reserved for upper classmen. Kreidler residents have additional meal plan options of Meal Plan E, F and G. If you plan to live in South Hall, you are not required to have a meal plan at all. And of course, if you live off-campus you are not required to have a meal plan either.

Meal Plan A-D

If you are entering PLU as a freshmen or sophomore, you have the option of choosing Meal Plan A-D. The different options offer varying degrees of guest meals, meaning “swipes” you can give to your friends or guests who don’t have meal plans. They also vary in terms of dining dollars. Dining dollars is pre-paid money on your Lutecard, that can be used to purchase food, coffee, snacks, etc. Dining dollars are tax-free, meaning that anything your purchase using your dining dollars will remove the additional tax charge. Long-term, this is very beneficial, as 10% sales taxes add up over longer periods of time.

Here is an overview over meal plans A-D:

The star next to Meal Plan B indicates that this is the default meal plan. This means that if you do not actively select another meal plan, this is the one you will be charged for. Meal Plans A-D include unlimited access to buffet style dinners, which PLU calls “all-you-care-to-eat meals”. All-you-care-to-eat access counts for Sunday-Friday dinners, as well as Brunch on Sunday mornings.  

When I lived on-campus last year, I had the default: Meal Plan B. This meal plan was a good fit for me, although I ended up not using all of my dining dollars evenly throughout the semesters. Dining dollars roll over (transfer over) from Fall semester to Spring semester, but they do not transfer to the next academic year. This is very important to know, so that you don’t end up wasting un-used money. By the time May rolled around last year, I still had $450 dollars to use and less than a month to use it all. A luxury problem for sure, but it is also smart to allocate the money evenly throughout the semester so you get the best use out of your money.

Meal Plan E, F, G

These are the Meal Plans available to only Kreidler, South Hall, and off-campus residents.

Meal Plans E include 50 one-admittance all-you-care-to-eat meals and Meal Plan F has a similar offer but with only 20 one-admittance meals. Meal Plan G is all Dining Dollars: you have $536 dollars that you can spend freely at all campus restaurant facilities. Here is an overview of different costs associated with each Meal Plan:

FLEX-D Plan

The FLEX-D plan is a new addition to our meal plan offerings. This option is only available to students who are eligible to be off-campus (has at least 60 credits and is 20 years or older). The FLEX-D plan is also all Dining Dollars on your account, but here you get $2169 instead of $536. In other words, this meal plan could serve as a substitute for cooking yourself, rather than an addition to cooking yourself.

So, what can you use Dining Dollars for?

As mentioned, Dining Dollars are restricted to only food purchases, and are exempt from sales tax. They may be used during a la carte meals in The Commons, or to purchase all-you-care-to-eat meals for guests in The Commons and at all campus restaurant locations:

• The Commons
• Old Main Market
• Kelley Café
• Lute Café

Alright, that concludes my Meal Plan overview! I hope this was helpful to any incoming International students, I know it can be hard to navigate all of these new terms and conditions for room and board, so taking the time to read up on your different options is a nice way to save money. I hope you all have an amazing weekend, take care!!

-       - Megan