New dining plans this coming fall will give students more dining points and greater flexibility in where to eat. Photo by Chris McIntosh

Dining Hall

New Fall Meal Plans Will Include More Dining Points, Greater Venue Flexibility

Open-Access options will allow unlimited visits to BU dining halls

Racing to classes can make it challenging for students to squeeze in a meal. Starting in fall 2023, a new menu of four BU dining plans will give Terriers greater flexibility in eating their courses in between studying their courses.

Two new “Open-Access” plans will replace the current year’s Unlimited Plan, 14+, 330, and 250 plans, with new options permitting unlimited visits to campus dining halls and additional dining points. “Every plan that we’re releasing has more dining points than we’ve previously offered,” says Lynn Cody, Dining Services marketing director. Points, worth $1 each and stored on students’ Terrier Cards, can be used to buy food on the GrubHub Campus app or at City Convenience stores. A new Weekly 10+ Plan will allow some students even more flexibility. The Kosher Plan will continue to be offered. 

Meanwhile, students living off campus will have three exclusive plans that offer more flexibility and more convenience points.

Students residing in University dorms are required to purchase a meal plan and will be automatically assigned the Open-Access Plan and have the option to upgrade to the Open-Access + or Weekly 10+. Guest meals will remain the same, at 10 per semester. Additionally, unused dining points will continue to be refunded at the end of the spring semester at a rate of 50 percent.

Students living off campus this fall will be able to choose from three plans (none offer guest meals):

The new plans grew out of a survey of more than 5,000 Terriers in fall 2021 and spring 2022.

“A couple of themes emerged, [including] students wanting more flexibility from their meal plans—the ability to move seamlessly through dining halls and not have to worry about how many meals they have [left] on their card,” says Paul Riel, the University’s associate vice president for auxiliary services. “These new meal plans will foster community and engagement with our students by removing the barrier of how many times they may enter a dining hall.

“The second piece of this was, students wanted more dining points, and we have responded by increasing the dining points on each plan.”

Returning students can sign up for a fall dining plan until June. New Terriers arriving this fall have until September.

As for what these plans will buy, the University has been creating new options to better meet students’ culinary preferences. “There are local and national trends that indicate students want customizability,” says Jon Webster, director of dining. “We hear ‘freshness,’ we hear ‘authentic.’ We look at popular national brands and explore ways to bring those fresh, authentic, and customizable options to campus.” Dining Services has already rolled out Mexican and Vietnamese serving stations, meeting periodically with students for feedback, he says.

Upshot: every dining hall this spring semester will have a variety of new customizable stations. “Students can rely on it, we think students will be excited to see it, and it’s a brand concept that they are familiar with,” Webster says. “We’re seeing success with it, we’re getting positive feedback, and we’ll continue to explore ways to continually improve the culinary experience.”

“We see the dining halls as an extension of the University where students can come together to share a great meal, create connections, and find a place to relax, rest, and, of course, eat between classes,” says Riel. “These changes are a direct result of student feedback, and we encourage students to reach out to us to further share their thoughts.”