Meal Plans
- First year students are required to purchase at a minimum the Silver Plan. This plan should cover three small meals a day but watch out if you buy coffee every day*.
- *If you do buy (hot) coffee every day, you can purchase a bottomless mug from dining services for $95, which can be purchased with meal points or a credit card/cash, that can be refilled an unlimited amount of times at any WUSTL dining location for the entire academic year. If you drink just three cups of (hot) coffee a week, you’ll save money/meal points with this.
- Selling or buying meal points
- If you are not on the off-campus meal plan, points can be transferred between students only one time per academic semester with a 100-point minimum and 500-point maximum. A 7.5-point transaction fee will be assessed PER STUDENT for the transfer. Both students will need to sign the transfer form, and both students involved in the transfer need to visit the Dining Services offices located in the South 40 House. – Dining Services
- Meal points roll over between fall and spring semester. They do not at the end of the school year.
- So if you have extra, either treat yourself to Ibby’s, sell them, transfer them to a friend, or feed an upperclassman!
- If you don’t know anyone selling or buying, you can post on WashU’s Free and For Sale Facebook Group.
- Suggestions for saving money
- Meal points are always sold at a higher price than if you were to use Bear Bucks. Therefore, to save the most money, it is recommended to purchase the minimum meal plan required for your housing situation. Then supplement the rest of your food cost by either purchasing meal points from students, using Bear Bucks, or buying food outside of WashU.
- Which meal plan you select does not affect how much you get in financial aid (See Financial Aid section)
- Meal points are always sold at a higher price than if you were to use Bear Bucks. Therefore, to save the most money, it is recommended to purchase the minimum meal plan required for your housing situation. Then supplement the rest of your food cost by either purchasing meal points from students, using Bear Bucks, or buying food outside of WashU.
- COVID-19: Students can now request to be exempt from purchasing a meal plan. Submit your request here For more information on what qualifies for exemption, click here. All students, regardless of meal plan, can transfer their meal points.
- Keep track of your meal point balance by checking on WebStac. It gives you an approximate estimate of how many points you should be at if you were to spend the average amount for your plan every day (the tracker assumes that you are spending meal points during breaks):
- For the Gold plan, you have an average of 18 points per day.
- For the Silver plan, you have an average of 14 points per day.
- For the Bronze plan, you have an average of 11 points per day.
- See the WUSTL app for places to eat on campus, as well as daily menus for each dining location
- Meal points aren’t accepted at the following Business School locations. Bear Bucks, however, are accepted:
- Bauer Hall Cafe
- Starbucks
- Einstein Bros. Bagels
- Meal points aren’t accepted at the following Business School locations. Bear Bucks, however, are accepted:
- On-campus online ordering with option to pay with meal points
- WUSTL – GET Food: Order and pay ahead of time
- DoorDash for Schnucks Pavilion/Parkside Cafe ONLY: Order ahead of time, pay when you arrive
- Subway: Order ahead of time, pay when you arrive
- Bear Bucks is WashU’s tax-exempt currency that can be used for on-campus food, select off-campus restaurants and businesses, vending machines, laundry, and printing.
- For off-campus partners, it is always good to call beforehand to check with location to see if they still accept Bear Bucks.
- Card readers have been installed on more than 80 beverage and snack machines at Danforth and North Campus locations, including every residence hall on the South 40. They also accept Bear Bucks.
Where to Find Free Food on Campus
- Speaker events, which are often held in Tisch Commons in the DUC.
- Underpass for breakfast food. It is fairly common for people to hand out donuts or bagels at the underpass.
- DUC N’ Donuts: On the first Friday of each month, the DUC gives out a free donut and a free rubber duck (as well as coffee) to anyone who walks by on a first-come, first serve basis.
- Tuesday Tea: Every Tuesday in the DUC from 3-5 PM they have tea and pastries FOR FREE!
- During the first few weeks of classes, go to clubs’ general body meetings— they’ll often have some type of snack to encourage attendance.
- Residential College events
Side Notes
- WashU doesn’t sell bottled water, BUT you’ll get a free water bottle on move-in day!