What is a Meal Plan?
Purdue provides meal plan options for students living in on-campus residences. All students living in on-campus residences are required to purchase a meal plan (unless you reside at Hawkins or Hilltop). If you choose to live off-campus in your first year, you cannot buy a meal plan (however, if you chose to move from the 2nd year onwards, you would be eligible for a 50 or 80-block meal plan)
Each Meal Plan has a number of included “Meal Swipes” and “Dining dollars”. You need to understand what is included in each plan and where you can use them to choose the best plan for you.
Students can choose between a meal plan that has 7, 10, or 14 meal swipes each week. There is a Unlimited meal plan too (but the small print restricts the meal swipe usage significantly- I will write about this below). One meal swipe gives you one buffet meal at any of the 5 dining courts, or you can use one meal swipe for a to-go meal at any of the 4 On-the-Go or 3 Quick Bite locations. “Weeks” run Monday through Sunday during the semester, and unused swipes each week are not carried over.
Meal plans additionally include a set amount of Dining Dollars, which can be used to purchase additional meals and snacks in the five dining courts, Chick-fil-A, and Purdue Food Co. locations. They can also be used at the mini-mart/ grocery stores called Boilermarkets to buy groceries/milk etc. Dining Dollars are disbursed to your account at the start of each semester. Dining Dollars work like a debit card; each time you purchase anything, the total is deducted from the balance in your account. Any unused Dining Dollars rollover from the fall semester to the spring semester, but are forfeited at the end of the academic year if you have any left.
Students may choose and make changes to their meal plan selections in the housing portal until the deadline of applying for housing- this year its June 5, 2024. Then your meal plan selection is locked. Once new student dorm assignments are released (around mid-July) you will have another opportunity to make changes to your choice of meal plan. The last date to make any change is end of August.
What has changed in Meal Plans from this year?
Meal plans are changing from the 2024-2025 year. Previously, a student could also use their meal swipe in the 25 retail dining locations across the campus. This is no longer allowed from this year. Meal swipes don’t work for Retail locations any more, only your dining dollars can now be used.
The most popular plan up till last year was the “13 Track”, which provided 13 meal swipes each week and $450 Dining Dollars each year for $4,554 per year. This was the preferred choice because many students found that they didn’t need 3 meals per day, and would often eat out on the weekend. The 13 Track was ideal and most students would use it for 2 meals Mon-Sat and 1 on the Sunday leaving 1 meal to be eaten using the Dining Dollars/own cost.
This is the old meal plan for your reference. From 2024-25 the 13 track and all the older plans will cease to exist.
Which meal plan should I pick?
Removing the access to the retail locations robs students the chance to eat at the nearest point to where they are (dorm or classes). Now, after this massive change, students have to seriously consider- do they have the time to walk to and from the dining courts or the 7 other locations allowed for a meal swipe for most meals?
Additionally, with the Unlimited meal, only 8 meals a week are allowed outside the 5 dining courts at any of the On-the-Go & Quick Bites on campus. restricting a student even further. The student will also want to experience eating at the many restaurants on-campus (and off-campus), and an Unlimited Plan comes with very little Dining Dollars to use at the retail locations. By opting for an Unlimited Meal Plan, you may put yourselves in a difficult position of having to choose to forego prepaid meals in order to eat out.
I have tried to put a dollar value per meal, as well as estimate how many effective meals per week one is getting with each of the tracks. I have used a dining court meal retail price to work out how many meals a dining dollar might buy, but with cheaper retail locations the dining dollars might extend even further.
Although at first glance, the Unlimited plan with its cheapest per meal cost seems an upgrade on the 14 track, it is quite misleading- as most students will never be able to eat 21-22 meals in a week! My son barely managed to finish his 13 meals in a week, and none of his friends managed to either. Chances are that most students will also not be able to take advantage of its unlimited nature even if they wanted to, as they will be too far from the dining courts to eat there all the time. With an unlimited meal plan, assuming your child only manages to eat 2 meals a day (like most students) i.e. 14 meals a week, the cost per meal jumps from the $8.04 above to a whopping $11.77! I suspect that most kids who chose the unlimited are going to average a cost per meal between the two limits…making it somewhat the same cost as per meal as a 14 track plan. Then, there is the issue of the limited dining dollars in the Unlimited plan, which in my opinion, makes it the least flexible of all the plans.
The 14 track or 10 track seem to be the best options, with the 10 track giving the most flexibility of the two with the higher Dining Dollars – thus allowing the choice to eat at any location. Remember you can always buy more meals at the dining courts at the retail cost of $13.91 using a debit/credit card or BoilerExpress account or eat at the Retail Locations by paying too.
Check your allocated housing dorm and where most of your classes will be and then choose your plan accordingly. Only choose the Unlimited track if your dorm/classes will be near the dining courts.
Otherwise, the 14 track or 10 track will be your best options, with the 10 track being nearest to the old popular13 track plan.
Of course, it’s up to you to select the meal plan that works for your lifestyle and financial situation. You may change your meal plans between mid- July and August 30 in case you think you have made the wrong choice.
Will I able to get Vegetarian/Vegan or other special diet foods?
Yes, my son is a vegetarian (no meat/fish/ eggs) and he was perfectly fine eating at the Dining courts. Windsor and Ford Dining court have lots of vegetarian and vegan. The dining courts also offer a variety of build-your-own stations, which are customizable to the needs and preferences of our students. Examples of custom entrées include pizza, pasta, stir-fry, burrito, salad, and deli sandwich. Students are free to leave off any animal products such as meat, milk, egg, honey, etc. Students may also select the plant-based proteins at these stations like tofu, soy crumbles, beans, chickpeas, etc.
More info can be found here
Halal: Windsor Dining Court offers halal food at lunch and dinner. This includes a variety of halal proteins including beef, chicken, and fish. Windsor also has a large selection of plant-based protein options in its menu rotation.
Kosher: Purdue does not have a certified Kosher kitchen. Students following a strict Kosher diet should reach out to the dietician at allergicboiler@purdue.edu.
Download the Mobile Menus App
To check out the daily menus for each dining court, you can download the app. Using this, you can keep track of your favorite menu items and where and when they will be served. The app will let you know all the ingredients and also tags items with food restrictions.
Whichever meal plan you chose, it will be added to your Purdue University billing along with tuition and housing. Also note that during Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, Spring Break, and other stated University vacations, no meals will be provided.
Once you are on campus, review the locations above in detail in my post Explore Dining Courts & Eating out
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