Campus Dining FAQs

Campus Dining & Hospitality will have all locations open during academic year 2024-25. Please check our hours and locations page for information about all of our locations across campus.

There are several ways to pay for food at Campus Dining & Hospitality locations: 

• Check our dining locations and hours page to see what forms of payment are accepted at each location
• Residence Hall Student Meal Plans - On-campus students can use their residential meal plans at all dining centers, grab-and-gos, APG and SEEC Cafe. Residence Hall Meal Plans come with a balance of Munch Money that can be used at any other dining location.
• Block Meal Plans - Students living off campus, in Bear Creek or in Graduate and Family Housing can purchase a block of meal swipes to use at dining centers, grab-and-gos, APG and SEEC Cafe.
• Campus Cash - Students, faculty and staff can add Campus Cash to their Buff OneCard and can be used at any campus dining location. Campus Cash doesn’t expire.
• Credit and Debit Cards - Most of our dining locations accept credit and debit cards.
• Cash - Many of our retail, restaurant and cafe locations accept cash. Talk to one of the courtesy workers and they will tell you where you can purchase a meal card with cash.
• Get Mobile app - Students, faculty and staff can use the Get Mobile app to pay for meals with their meal plans or Campus Cash. Download the app and sign in using your identikey to access a QR code that you can scan at any of our locations.

• Block Meal Plans are available to all students living off campus, in Bear Creek or in Graduate and Family Housing. They can be purchased in the myCUliving portal. All students living in residence halls are required to hold a meal plan that includes a set number of meal swipes per week and a balance of Munch Money.
• Meal plans are not available to faculty and staff. Faculty and staff can add Campus Cash to their Buff OneCards to purchase meals at a reduced rate.

• Residence Hall Meal Plans
  • Residence Hall Meal Plans include a set number of meal swipes (15 or 19) per week and a balance of Munch Money. 
  • The weekly balance of meal swipes begins on Thursday morning, meaning that each Thursday your card will have either 19 or 15 swipes available to use through the following Wednesday. 
  • Unused meal swipes will not carry over from week to week and are not refundable. 
  • Funds are not transferable between meal swipes and Munch Money.
  • Meal plan swipes may not be used to allow guests or friends into the dining centers or pay for grab-n-go meals for others.
  • Meal plan holders must use another form of payment for guest meals, like Munch Money, Campus Cash or credit/debit cards. 
• Block Meal Plans
  • Block Meal Plans include a set number of meal swipes for the semester. 
  • Unused meal swipes do not carry over to the following semester and are not refundable.
  • Supplemental block meal plans are available for purchase during the semester if you believe you will use all your meal swipes before the end of the semester. 
  • Block Meal Plan holders may use meal swipes to pay for meals for guests.
•  General
  • Unauthorized use of the meal plan privileges may result in additional charges, cancellation of meal plan privileges without a refund and referral to the Student Conduct Resolution Process.
  • Unused meal swipes may not be transferred to others, except during Swipe it Forward events when you can donate up to three meal swipes to the Basic Needs Center.
  • Polices are subject to change without prior notification. 

• In dining centers (C4C, Village Center and Sewall) a meal swipe entitles you to an all-you-care-to-eat meal while you are in the dining center. 
• Food may not be taken from the dining center except for a piece of fruit or a hand-held desert.
• Bringing containers into the dining centers for carrying out food is not permitted.
• In grab-n-go locations, a meal swipe entitles you to either one entrée and two sides, or four sides. Items in the location will be marked as entrée or side.   

• Munch Money is a declining balance stored on students’ Buff OneCard that renews each semester.
• Unused Munch Money at the end of each semester does not roll forward to the next term and is not refundable.
• Munch Money can be used in the cafes and retail outlets or to pay for guest meals in dining centers and grab-n-go's.
• If a student uses their Munch Money for the semester, additional funds can be added to their Buff OneCard in the form of Campus Cash. 

Dining Centers and Grab-n-go's are closed during fall, winter and spring breaks. Some resaurants or cafes may remain open during breaks, and students may use Munch Money, Campus Cash or debit/credit cards at those locations. Check our hours update page to find out what open during breaks.  

• If a student terminates residence hall occupancy during a semester, their residence hall meal plan charges are prorated based on the date of checkout to determine the amount of meal plan credit.
• If a student withdraws from the university with a balance remaining on their block meal plan, they will be refunded the value of the remaining meal swipes. 
• For any questions about the withdrawal process, please contact the Office of the Registrar at withdraw@colorado.edu or 303-492-6970

Anyone with a CU Identikey can now use the Get Mobile app on their phone to view their Campus Cash balance and make contactless payments in all dining locations accepting Campus Cash - APG, cafes, restaurants and retail markets. 

To set up the Get Mobile app: 

• Search for Get Mobile in your app store
• Click “Search all institutions”
• Search for “University of Colorado Boulder”
• Sign in with your CU identikey
• You can choose to turn on fingerprint authentification
• Enter your email address and phone number

To pay with the Get Mobile app: 

• Once you are ready to check out at your dining location, go to the cashier
• Sign into Get Mobile on your phone
• Click "Scan Card" under your ID photo
• Cashier will scan your barcode to accept Campus Cash payment

If a student with a meal plan needs to remain in their residence hall due to illness, CDH wants to make sure that you are able to get the meals that you need. 

The easiest option is to utilize the grab-n-go and order-ahead locations. Students can use Nutrislice to order food ahead of time at CU on the Run and The Alley. Other grab-n-go options for meal plan holders include Libby on the Run, Toast on the Run (at the Village Center) and Alferd Packer Grill, where food can be taken to-go and brought back to their room. If a student is unable to physically go to a location to grab their meal, then a roommate or friend can pick up the meal for them. A roommate or friend can pay for the meal utilizing the student’s Buff OneCard. Order ahead will automatically debit the meals and therefore no card is needed for pick up.

If a student needs meals over the weekend, or during a time that grab-n-go locations are closed, they can follow this process:

• Please email the request to pick up a meal to the following address based on where the student lives:
  • Williams Village email vcdining@colorado.edu
  • Sewall email sewalldining@colorado.edu
  • Main campus anywhere except Sewall email c4cdining@colorado.edu
• A manager from the location will reach out to the student about coordinating the meal pick up.
• Use the Nutrislice app to identify what foods they would like from the menu on the day of pick up from the dining hall closest to where they live. They can choose foods for more than one meal if need be, and the student’s card will be debited accordingly.
• Choose 3 items (1 entrée and 2 sides) for each meal, and submit any allergens/dietary restrictions that need accommodating and a desired pick-up time.
• A roommate or friend will need to bring the student’s Buff OneCard and present it to the courtesy worker at the check stand. The student’s card will be swiped for the number of meals they are taking away.
  • If the meals are not picked up on the day requested before the dining hall closes, the meals may be deducted from the student’s board plan for that week.
  • The roommate or friend who is picking up the meal does not need to swipe their own card unless they are planning on eating in the dining hall. If the individual does want to eat at that time, a swipe will be required and we will have the food ready upon their exit.
• Please keep all food in a refrigerator and reheat items appropriately.