Dining > Meal Plans & Rates > Use & Manage Your Meal Plan

Use & Manage Your Meal Plan

​​​​​​​​​​​​​Select a Meal Plan

W​​e offer several different types of meal plans for students, including on-campus residents and students living off campus. Explore different meal plan options, then enter your preference in the housing portal.

​​Using Your Plan​

​​​​Meal plans for Lincoln Park residents provide a set number of meal allotments to be used each period, which vary depending on the plan type and are for personal use only. Meal allotments begin on Sunday and continue through Saturday. At the University Center, meal allotment swipes are distributed every Monday.

Meal plans also provide Lincoln Park on-campus residents, commuter students, faculty, and staff with Blue Bucks. Blue Bucks can be used for purchases outside of the main dining areas (such as campus cafes) and can be used when classes are not in session (such as Spring Break). Blue Bucks are made available on the first day of each quarter and unused dollars roll forward to the next quarter. Any Blue Bucks remaining at the end of Spring Quarter will be forfeited. 

Flex Dollars are similar to Blue Bucks but are used by University Center (Loop) residents only. If a University Center resident has a Basic Plus meal plan or Standard Plus meal plan, they are given Flex Dollars to use at dining locations inside University Center and Blue Bucks to use at on-campus quick-service restaurants, cafes, and convenience stores on the Lincoln Park Campus and on the Loop Campus at DePaul Center, 11th Floor.

Meal exchanges are similar to combo meals that you would get at a quick-service restaurant. Blue Demons with a DePaul meal plan can use up to two meal allotments as meal exchanges in a day—one may be used at a select Lincoln Park dining location and one may be used at a Loop dining location at DePaul Center, 11th Floor.

At each participating location, a "Meal Exchange" sign will be displayed with options for you to choose from. Once you choose an option, simply go up to the cashier and mention which meal exchange option you would like to order. To view meal exchange options, please visit dineoncampus.com/depaul/meal-exchanges​.

Lincoln Park meal allotment swipes are distributed at the beginning of each quarter (all plans except the DePaul Weekly, which has swipes refreshed each week on Sundays). Swipes do not roll over from quarter to quarter. Flex dollars are distributed at the beginning of each quarter and roll over from quarter to quarter until the end of spring quarter, when they are forfeited.

University Center weekly meal allotment swipes are distributed every Monday and do not roll over from week to week. Flex dollars are distributed every Monday and roll over until the end of spring quarter/semester, when they are forfeited.​

​​Adding Money to Plans

If you do not want to add a meal plan but wish to add funds to your DePaul University ID card, you can do so by logging into Campus Connect​. Once logged in, select Student Resources > Optional Transactions > Meal Plan Online. You can add funds by using a credit card or by billing them to your student account.

If you are a resident of the University Center and want to add funds to your University Center meal plan, you can do so through the UC resident portal.​​

Changing Plans

Meal plans can only be changed during the dates mentioned in the terms and conditions, section 5. To change a meal plan, please use the following forms:

If you are leaving DePaul at the end of any given quarter/semester, any remaining balance will not be refunded.

Cancellation Policy

Meal plans can be added at any time but can only be changed or cancelled prior to the following dates, which are also listed in the​ 2023-24 Terms and Conditions​​.

Quarter Date
Fall Quarter August 27, 2023
Winter Quarter January 6, 2024
Spring Quarter March 23, 2024