Meal Plans

THE BENEFITS OF A MEAL PLAN

So, How Does A Meal Plan Work?

Offering more than just nourishment, our dining venues provide places to relax, catch up with friends, meet classmates to work on that paper, or find that grab & go option to get to the next part of your day.

Choose from two all-you-care-to-eat dining halls – the venerable Sharpe Refectory on Wriston Quad, or the newly renovated Verney-Woolley (or “V-Dub”) on the Pembroke Campus – as well as three campus restaurants, a cafe, and a convenience market.

Meal plans offer a comprehensive package providing access to a wide variety of food options throughout the day. Whether it is a poke bowl, made-to-order sandwich, smoothies, hot entrée of the day, avocado toast or eggs done your way, there is something for you to discover and enjoy!

All meal plans come with meal credits, flex points, and guest passes. Your meal plan is in full effect for the academic year. There is a grace period that allows you to make changes to your Spring meal plan, however, cancellations are not permitted for the Spring semester.

meal credit swipe allows you entry into either of our all-you-care-to-eat dining halls:  The Sharpe Refectory on Wriston Quad or Verney-Woolley at the Emery-Woolley dorm. A meal credit swipe can also be used at most of our a la carte restaurants or cafes. When used this way, your meal credit has a value or equivalency, which deducts from your total purchase.

Flex points are regarded as cash-on-hand built right into your meal plan! Accepted at any of our campus eateries, these dollar-for-dollar points help when you want to make that on-the-go purchase or when you don’t need the full value of your meal credit swipe.

Guest meals are for family and friends to share in and enjoy a Brown dining experience with you! They function as a meal credit swipe in our all-you-care-to-eat facilities.

As an example of using your meal plan, say you are at Andrews Commons and ready to pay at the register for your purchase. You may elect to first use a meal credit swipe and then pay the remaining amount using your flex points.

Meal Plan Options

As a residential campus community, Brown meal plans are available to all active undergraduate, graduate and medical students. Your meal plan balances are available for use at the beginning of each term and spend down throughout the semester. If you decide to add further value to your plan, you may purchase additional flex points by logging into mycard.brown.edu.

We offer  FIRST YEARS a comprehensive meal plan allowing optimal focus during your first year at Brown:

Per Semester
Meal Plan Meal Credits Flex Points Guest Meals Semester Cost Annual Cost
20 Weekly 20 / wk $100.00 2 $3,474.00 $6,948.00
Flex 460 230 $250.00 5 $3,474.00 $6,948.00

Meal plans for sECOND YEARS provide options that adapt with your experience of undergraduate life and academics:

Per Semester
Meal Plan Meal Credits Flex Points Guest Meals Semester Cost Annual Cost
20 Weekly 20 / wk $100.00 2 $3,474.00 $6,948.00
Flex 460 230 $250.00 5 $3,474.00 $6,948.00
14 Weekly 14 / wk $75.00 2 $3,271.00 $6,542.00
Flex 330 165 $175.00 4 $3,271.00 $6,542.00

As you continue forward into your third year and beyond at Brown, you are automatically enrolled in the meal plan you had the previous semester. To opt out or make changes, visit mycard.brown.edu.

Per Semester
Meal Plan Meal Credits Flex Points Guest Meals Semester Cost Annual Cost
20 Weekly 20 / wk $100.00 2 $3,474.00 $6,948.00
Flex 460 230 $250.00 5 $3,474.00 $6,948.00
14 Weekly 14 / wk $75.00 2 $3,271.00 $6,542.00
Flex 330 165 $175.00 4 $3,271.00 $6,542.00
Flex 70 35 $375.00 2 $1,109.00 $2,218.00

Understanding Weekly vs Flex

Weekly VS Flex Plans

Weekly Plans Provide more structure in terms of the number of meals available per day (up to 4 meal credits/day) and per week. ‘Those meals do not carry over every week. For example, the 20 Weekly plan resets 20 meals every Sunday morning. Students can use up to 4 meal credits per day. 

Flex Plans provide a block of meals that you can use at your discretion, as they are not allocated on a weekly basis. This plan allows you to use up to 2 swipes per hour but can be used throughout the semester as desired. Unused meals carry over from Fall to Spring but all unused meals are forfeited at the end of the Spring Semester. For reference, the Flex460 plan averages 14 meals per week.

Points are available on both plans.  The Weekly plans offer more meals per week, while the Flex plans offer more points. Points can be used at any dining location for a la carte items. Flex points can be carried over from Fall to the Spring, but are forfeited at the end of the Spring semester. 

Weekly Plans Flex Plans
  • Resets new “Meal Block” every week
  • Can use 2 swipes per hour
  • Can use up to 4 swipes per day
  • Set number of meals per semester
  • Can use 2 swipes per hour

Bear Bucks are not included in the meal plan. Bear Bucks are an additional tender with no oversight from Dining Services. To review Bear Bucks and its purposes, please review the About Bear Bucks Website

Meal Plan FAQs

DINING SERVICES RESOURCES

EXAMPLES AND INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Food allergies
  • Food intolerances
  • Religiously restricted diets
  • Disordered eating
    … and more.

If you are an academic year meal plan participant and would benefit from a meal plan modification, resource, or information click below for a list of next steps.

Next Steps
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Important Dates for Meal Plan Contracts

Your meal plan constitutes a contract with Brown Dining Services and is in full effect for the academic year with half the annual charge billed to your student account by semester.

To sign up or make a change to your meal plan, please note the dates below. The last day for meal plan cancellation is August 29, 2023 for eligible students. Your Fall 2023 meal plan will be assigned for Spring 2024. There will be a grace period that allows you to make changes to your Spring 2024 meal plan, however, cancellations are not permitted for the Spring semester.

Semester Change Period Begins Change Period Ends Description
 

Anytime

Add a new meal plan contract
Fall 6/5/2023 8/29/2023 Pre-semester online changes. No cancellations after 8/29/23.
8/30/2023 9/13/2023 One meal plan change permitted. Cancellations not permitted.
Spring 11/27/2023 1/20/2024 One meal plan change permitted. Cancellations not permitted.

Reminder: 3rd and 4th year students are automatically enrolled in the same meal plan they had the previous semester. To make changes or cancel, you may do so at mycard.brown.edu before the deadlines noted above.

You may update your meal plan contract through the mycard.brown.edu during the cancellation period. All meal plan charges are billed to your student account.

Terms and Conditions of your Meal Plan Contract

Your meal plan constitutes a contract with Brown Dining Services. It is in full effect for the academic year with half the annual charge billed to your student account by semester. Use of your meal plan in any of our on-campus eateries constitutes your agreement with appropriate behavior according to Brown’s Code of Student Conduct and violations of Dining Services policy.

WHO CAN SIGN UP FOR A MEAL PLAN
  • Meal plans are available to all undergraduate, graduate and medical students.
USING YOUR BROWN ID FOR MEAL PLAN
  • Meal credits and Points are non-transferable. It is a violation of both Brown and Dining Services policy to loan out your ID card. Sharing a meal plan is not permitted and all meals and points associated with each plan (with the exception of guest meals) are for the use of the meal plan holder only. Any financial transactions that require your Brown ID must be processed with your physical Brown ID. Photos of your Brown ID will not be accepted.
  • Guest meals are included in each residential meal plan. They can be used by a student to pay for a meal for themselves or for the meal of a companion. We recommend saving guest meals for others and utilizing regular meal credits for yourself, as meal credits and flex points cannot be used for guests.
MEAL PLAN CHANGES & BILLING
  • Third Year and Fourth Year students are automatically enrolled in the meal plan you had the previous semester. To opt out or make changes, visit mycard.brown.edu.
  • When changing plans, meal plan usage on the original plan will be deducted from the new plan.
  • Unused meals are forfeited when you switch from a Flex plan to a Weekly plan.
  • Unused meal credits and flex points are forfeited at the end of the applicable academic year.