Tnology: Create UB Dining Plans

2025-06-01T20:00:21Z

Create UB Dining Plans

New page

UB's dining plans are prepaid meal accounts that provide students with meals at campus dining halls and funds for food purchases at university dining locations. The plans offered include Flex 19, Flex 14, Flex 10, and Flex 7, each number corresponding to a number of meal swipes given each week (Flex 7 gives 7 meal swipes per week, for example). Each plan also comes with a small allowance for Dining Points. UB also offers Dining Points only plans. All first-year students living on campus are required to choose between Flex 14 and Flex 19, and are automatically enrolled into the latter.<ref name=":0">https://myubcard.com/content/mealplans</ref>

== Meal Swipes and Dining Points ==
A '''meal swipe''' can be used in two main ways - either to enter a residential dining hall, or as a meal exchange. When a student uses a swipe at a traditional dining hall (such as C3 or other buffet-style halls), one meal is deducted from their weekly allowance and they can eat freely in that sitting. If a student instead chooses to use a meal swipe at another on-campus dining location, the swipe has a set dollar value that varies based on the meal period. UB assigns meal exchange values based on the time of day, such as $8 for Breakfast, $9.50 for Late Night, and $12.75 for other periods as of the 2025-2026 academic year.<ref name=":0" /> This means that if a student buys food at Moe's in SU and the total comes to $15, using a meal swipe at lunch would cover $12.75 and the remaining $2.25 would have to be paid from another source (such as Dining Points).

Students can use up to two swipes per meal period. The weekly swipe count resets every Saturday at 3:00 AM, meaning all unused meal swipes (which the student paid for) are lost, and there is no way to get them back.

'''Dining Points''' are a balance included in all meal plans, and are generally considered more flexible and convenient than meal swipes. They are tax-exempt, meaning students do not have to pay tax on food purchases made with Dining Points, and can be used at the on-campus dining locations, at the two on-campus convenience stores (The Elli at Ellicott and Teddy's at Governors) to purchase food products, and at vending machines. Points are flexible for any food item, no matter how small (down to a cup of coffee), meaning students are not encouraged to get more food than they need or lose money by using a full meal swipe. If students use all of their Dining Points before the semester ends, they can add more in $25 increments online.

== Pricing ==
UB's dining plans are a significant expense - for example, Flex 19 costs $3,995 per semester ($7,990 per year), and Flex 14 costs $3,820 per semester ($7,640 per year), independent of the housing cost itself.<ref name=":0" /> This means if a student wishes to live on campus for their first year, they must pay at least $7,640 per year for a meal plan ''in addition'' to the cost of the dorm.

== Criticism ==
Many students criticize the "Flex" plans due to wasted money with the meal swipe resets and encouraging students to eat when they're not hungry (which can contribute to unhealthy weight gain and other issues) - and therefore the common advice for non-first-year students to get a Dining Points only plan or no plan at all. Additionally, critics argue using a meal swipe during a Breakfast or Late Night period will cause the student to lose money, as they do not get full value. Many students are unaware that they cannot use meal swipes in-between meal periods, such as between 4:00 PM and 4:30 PM, until they attempt to use one and are told they cannot use a meal swipe to pay for their food. Despite this, many students who live on campus after their first year choose to opt for a dining plan, especially due to the ability to get a Dining Points only plan.

== References ==
<references />

UB Dining Plans - Revision history

Tnology: Create UB Dining Plans