Meal Plan Options
How meal plans work
Students use their meal credits at Bon Appétit's dining facilities on campus, The Hilltop Café or Zamora's Market. The number of meals available in a plan is the total credits for each week from Friday morning through Thursday evening. Use meal credits for any combination of meals during the week. For example, a student who chooses the 14 meals per week option is able to eat any 14 meals during that week and is not limited to 2 meals per day.
Meal credits expire every Thursday night and do not "roll over" to the next week. In contrast, flex dollars on a meal plan do roll over every week until the end of the school year. Flex dollars expire at the end of the school year and do not "roll over" to the next year.
Meal plan options by housing type
| Meal Plan | On-campus housing (all residence halls) |
10th Ave Apartments Wilch Apartments Off-campus housing |
Residence requirement exempt students |
|---|---|---|---|
|
18 meal credits per week |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 14 meal credits per week + $200 flex dollars per semester |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 9 meal credits per week + $400 flex dollars per semester |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 7 meal credits per week | No | Yes | Yes |
| 5 meal credits per week | No | No | Yes |
| No meal plan | No | No | Yes |
Meal exchange
Meal credits may be used in retail and concessions operations for meal equivalency menus during specified meal exchange times, when the Hilltop Café is not open. For example, for the cost of one meal credit when the Hilltop Café is closed, a student may order a dinner from Zamora's Market selecting from a curated menu of items. This program is called Meal Exchange and certain restrictions apply. Please contact the Bon Appétit office at 319.895.4499 or speak to the Zamora's Market staff for questions.
Changing your meal plan
Please contact the Residence Life to learn when meal plan changes are allowed and how to do so. The change form is historically open during August and December on the Selecting or Changing a Meal Plan page. Refer to the meal plans and dining policies for complete details on the meal plan requirement and how residence requirements work.
Adding funds to your account
Please contact the Bon Appétit office at 319.895.4499 to learn how to add funds to a declining balance or gift card balance account. These are accounts separate from meal credits and flex dollars. The declining balance account is where parents or guardians add funds for students to use on discretionary on-campus food purchases.