Meal plans are active only when students are enrolled full time and on campus. They may only be used by the student whose name is on the OneCard; they are not transferable. There are no reimbursements for remaining balances at any time. The meal plan week runs Friday through Thursday.
What is a meal equivalency?
Meal equivalencies are intended to provide more choice options to meal plans, especially if all dining dollars have been exhausted. They are available for the 20 Meal Plan user. Meal equivalencies are limited to 1 per week.
A meal equivalency allows you to buy food in Sayles Café, Schulze Café or Weitz Café by using one of your weekly meal plan meals. The 20 Meal Plan allows the use of 1 meal per week as a meal equivalency. If you use 1 meal equivalency in a given week, then you have 1 less meal available to use in the dining halls. If you don’t use a meal equivalency in Sayles Café, Schulze Café or Weitz Café in a given week, then you have all your weekly meals available in the dining halls. There is no carryover of meal equivalencies that don’t get used.
Dining Services offers a choice of food combinations for the meal equivalency. Check the right sidebar for meal equivalency hours and menu options.
Meal equivalencies are meant to provide an alternative if scheduling or distance makes it difficult to get to a dining hall for a given meal. For example, if a person misses breakfast because they oversleep or have a conflicting meeting or class, they can use the meal equivalency to purchase food in the Snack Bar to replace the breakfast they missed anytime between 8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. The same thing can be done for a missed lunch between 10:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. If dinner is missed in the dining hall for similar reasons, a meal equivalency can be used in Sayles Café until it closes or Schulze Café or Weitz Café until they close, Monday – Friday. You can use your meal equivalency for breakfast/brunch between 9:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. A meal equivalency for dinner can be used 1:30 p.m. – close on Saturday and 4:00 p.m. – close on Sunday. If you have breakfast, lunch or dinner in the dining hall, you can’t use your meal equivalency in Sayles Café, Schulze Café or Weitz Café during the same meal period. You need to wait until the next meal period begins.
To review the math: you have the potential of using 1 meal equivalency per week if you purchased the 20 Meal Plan. If you use 1 meal equivalency, then you have 1 less meal per plan available for use in the dining halls. If you don’t use the meal equivalencies during that week, they are gone. You can’t bank meal equivalencies. But you don’t have to use your meal equivalencies either. It’s just an option for those who think it’s useful.