Meal Plan Options

About meal plans

All students living on campus must select a meal plan from several options. Meal plans selections are made one semester at a time. Fall meal plan preferences carry over to the spring by default. If a student does not select any fall meal plan, the default meal plan is assigned. 

Three meal plans are considered full meal plans. These full plans are the same cost. All students may select them and change between them in-between semesters.

Some students may be eligible for a specialty meal plan (7 or 5 meal credits per week) or a meal plan exemption through a disability. If eligible, contact contact Residence Life for more information.

How meal plans & flex 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. Flex dollars are different than declining balances.

Meal exchange program

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

Click here to change your meal plan for spring 2026. This form closes on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. The change form is historically open during August and again in December.

Fall Semester Selections

• Meal plan selections open by June 15 for fall semester.
• Deadline to change a fall semester meal plan: 4:00 pm the Thursday of the second week of Block 1.
  • Expect a delay before the meal plan updates as meal plans are changed in bulk on Fridays. This means that you will not be able to access the updated allotment of meals and/or flex cash until the Friday morning following when you submit your updated meal plan preference.

Spring Semester Selections

Meal plan selections from the fall will automatically carry over into the spring semester. However, students may voluntarily change their meal plan selection for the spring semester.

• Change period: Tuesday of the start of Block 4 until Wednesday of the first week of Block 5.
  • Spring semester meal plan selections made by the Thursday before spring classes start will be ready on spring semester move-in day.
  • Selections made after this deadline will not be reflected on the account until the meal system resets early morning of the first Friday of Block 5.

Changing mid-semester between the 18 meal, 14 meal, and 9 meal credits per week

In rare instances, students might change their meal plan mid-semester. Reasons include:

• Moving off-campus unexpectedly
• A food medical accommodation

Depending on the use of flex dollars, the student may have overspent their new allotment and owe the college a bill. For example, changing from the [9 meal credits with $400 flex] to the [18 meal credits with $75 flex] at the end of Block 3, the student may have already spent $275 flex dollars. Reducing their flex allotment to $75 for the semester, they incur a flex dollars deficit which must be paid to the college. The calculation of the exact deficit amount involves other factors and students considering this change should contact Residence Life for more details.

Switches to a meal plans aren't reflected on a student account immediately. Meal plan changes are updated on Fridays.