A Dining Plan unlocks delicious meals, beverages, snacks, and more, at the dining locations across campus. Your Dining Plan includes meal swipes and dine dollars, conveniently loaded onto your PennWest One Card. No need to carry additional cards or cash!
Pennsylvania Western University Dining Services offers a wide variety of convenient, nutritious meals to support your health and wellness and accommodate a range of dietary needs. Choose from different menus and services styles across our campuses, including our commons dining halls, Gold Rush Culinary Center with an allergen-free station and a vegetarian and vegan station, made-to-order burgers, Starbucks, our Van Houten Marketplace with farm-to-table and gluten-free options, Bento freshly prepared sushi, VulcanMarket micromarket, Chick-fil-A Express, and Sycamore Bistro.
Learn more about AVI Services offered at PennWest
Dining Plans
With so many things on your mind, you may not have given much thought to how you will be eating when you are on campus - but we have! It is our goal to keep students happy and healthy by providing meals that are nutritious, quick, convenient, and delicious. The best way to eat on campus is with a dining plan tailored to fit your needs.
With your Dining Plan, you receive many benefits and perks, including:
- A variety of nutritious and delicious foods made fresh by our culinary team
- Healthy choices available all across campus
- Special events with themed meals and exclusive offers for Dining Plan members
- Casual atmosphere —perfect for studying or hanging out with friends
- Conveniently loaded onto your PennWest One Card-- no need to carry additional cards or cash
Choose a PennWest Dining Plan today and leave the cooking to us!
The following weekly Dining Plans are available to all students. Students residing in on-campus housing are required to contract for one of the weekly plans listed below.
| Dining Plan Options | Semester Rate* | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Meal Plan | 19 meals per week with $225 dine dollars | $2,395 |
| 14 Meal Plan | 14 meals per week with $225 dine dollars | $2,295 |
| 10 Meal Plan | 10 meals per week with $225 dine dollars | $2,195 |
The following block Dining Plans are available only to commuters and students living at Reinhard Village or Vulcan Village:
| Dining Plan Options | Semester Rate* | |
|---|---|---|
| 75 Block Plan | 75 meals per semester with $125 dine dollars | $795 |
| 40 Block Plan | 40 meals per semester with $125 dine dollars | $495 |
*Note: Dining Plan charges are subject to change without prior notice and such changes shall take precedence over existing charges. All charges are subject to Council of Trustee approval.
Dining Plans include two components: meal swipes and dine dollars.
- Meal Swipes give you access to the all-you-care-to-eat dining hall, along with the ability to
use meal exchange or meal equivalency at the dining locations across campus. For all
meals plans, there is a 15-minute buffer between allowable meal swipes.
- Meal Exchange lets you convert a swipe for a designated meal combo at select retail locations.
- Meal Equivalency allows you to use your meal swipes at retail dining locations in exchange for a $7.40 credit toward the cost of your purchase.
- Dining Plans offer meal swipes in either a weekly amount or a semester block.
- For the weekly plans, the count of meals resets every Monday morning.
- For a block plan, it is up to the student to budget the number of meals over the entire semester. All meals expire at the end of the semester.
- Dine Dollars is declining balance account designed to purchase items ala carte or pay for purchases exceeding the meal equivalency amount at campus dining locations. Dine dollars may be used at any PennWest dining location. Unused dine dollars roll over from the fall semester to the spring semester. Any remaining dine dollars balance at the end of the spring semester is non- refundable and cannot be transferred.
- Guest Meals let you swipe someone into the dining hall as a guest. If you run out of meals, you can also use guest meals on yourself. All student Dining Plans come with five (5) guest meals per semester for use in the all-you-care-to-eat dining hall.
- The meal week runs Monday to Sunday. Participants on a weekly plan can use up to 4 meals per day. Participants on a block plan can use up to 3 meals per day. No credit shall be given to students for meals missed on any Dining Plan.
Dining Plan adjustments can be made without financial penalty up to the close of business on the Friday immediately preceding the start of the semester. All Dining Plan reductions or/and cancellation (cancellation option only available those not required to participate in the Dining Plan program by the housing contract) requests must be completed by the close of business on the Friday immediately preceding the start of the semester. Dining Plan increases or additions occurring after the close of business on the Friday immediately preceding the start of the semester thru 4:00 pm on the first Friday of semester may be assessed a fee based on the adjustment. Log into the my.pennwest.edu portal and select the Housing and Dining tab to complete a contract or change request during the applicable contracting and adjustment periods. After the adjustment period ends, changes decreasing the Dining Plan will no longer be accepted for the current term. Changes increasing or adding a Dining Plan after the start of the semester may require prepayment of the additional charges.
Sign up for a Dining Plan
Sign up for a Dining Plan by completing the following steps:
(note: students are notified via email as to when the Dining Plan contract is available via the portal for plan enrollment)
- Log into myPennWest
- Click on the “Housing and Dining Portal”
- Click on the drop-down arrow for “Contracts” and select the appropriate Dining Services contract.
- Review the information then type your name or use the pad to sign (note: if you are under 18, an email will be sent to your parent/guardian, with a link for that person to co-sign)
- Click on the "Continue" button
- Select your desired Dining Plan and click on the “Submit” button
No payment is necessary to add a Dining Plan prior to the semester start. The charge will be added to your student account. Students are responsible for checking the Student Accounts Portal in myPennWest for their updated student account balance.