BU Meal Plans 2025-2026: Prices, Comparison & Which One to Pick

If you live in traditional or suite-style housing at BU, you MUST choose one of these four plans. If you don't choose by the deadline, BU auto-assigns you the Open Access plan.

What's the difference?

Open Access ($3,590): Unlimited meal swipes at dining halls + $280 Dining Points. Best if you eat 2-3 dining hall meals per day and don't care about retail dining. The cheapest option.

Open Access+ ($3,805): Same unlimited swipes but $500 Dining Points instead of $280. Costs $215 more per semester for $220 more in Dining Points. Marginally better value for retail dining fans.

Weekly 10+ ($3,805): Only 10 meal swipes per week BUT $830 in Dining Points. Best if you skip meals, eat off-campus often, or prefer retail/grab-and-go options. Your 10 weekly swipes reset every Friday — unused swipes don't roll over.

Kosher ($3,590): 11 swipes/week + $390 Dining Points. Designed for students eating at Granby Commons' kosher kitchen.

If you live off-campus or in apartment-style housing, meal plans are optional. These Campus Connector plans let you eat on campus without the full residential commitment:

Cost per meal swipe:

• Connector 50: ~$13.10/swipe (after subtracting Convenience Points value)
• Connector 50+: ~$13.10/swipe (same ratio, more points)
• Connector 75+: ~$13.07/swipe

Note: Campus Connector plans include Convenience Points (not Dining Points). Convenience Points are more flexible — they work at dining halls, vending machines, laundry, and the BU Campus Store.

This is the single most confusing part of BU's meal system. BU has TWO types of campus currency, and they work differently:

The critical rule: Dining Points are completely forfeited at the end of the academic year. They vanish. There's no refund. This is the #1 complaint students have about BU's dining system.

As the Daily Free Press editorial put it: "BU and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad dining plans" — citing the points system as a major frustration.

Another Daily Free Press piece noted: "The 250 plan allows students roughly $55 per week, but when a sushi bowl at Basho Sushi starts at $13.99 and the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew at Starbucks costs a whopping $5.62, the stipend hardly lasts the entirety of the semester."

Strategy: Track your Dining Points monthly. If you have excess points in April, stock up on snacks and groceries at City Convenience before the semester ends.

• All freshmen in traditional residence halls (Warren Towers, West Campus dorms)
• All freshmen in suite-style housing (Myles Standish, 1019 Comm Ave)
• Cannot opt out or decline a meal plan
• If you don't choose by the deadline, BU auto-assigns Open Access

• Students in apartment-style housing (StuVi 1, StuVi 2, Bay State Road brownstones)
• Off-campus students
• Commuter students

Sophomore year and beyond: After freshman year, the meal plan requirement depends on your housing type. If you're in traditional/suite-style housing, you still need one. If you move to apartment-style housing or off-campus, it becomes optional.

• You eat 2-3 meals per day at dining halls
• You don't eat much retail/grab-and-go food
• You want the cheapest option
• You're a freshman who'll eat mostly in Warren or Marciano

• You eat at dining halls AND like occasional Starbucks, City Convenience snacks
• You want $500 in Dining Points vs $280 (worth the $215 upgrade)
• You use Grubhub for retail food orders

• You skip breakfast often or eat off-campus some days
• You prefer retail dining (MarketPlace, Einstein's, Raising Cane's) over dining halls
• You want $830 in Dining Points for maximum flexibility
• You're OK with only 10 dining hall meals per week

• You keep kosher and plan to eat at Granby Commons regularly
• 11 swipes/week + $390 points covers your needs

Students who figure out the system save hundreds per semester:

Use meal swipes first, Dining Points second:

With Open Access plans, your dining hall meals are effectively unlimited and already paid for. Use swipes for all dining hall meals and reserve Dining Points for retail locations where swipes don't work.

Track your Dining Points monthly:

Divide your total Dining Points by the number of weeks in the semester. That's your weekly budget. If you're spending more than that, adjust before you run out in April.

Don't waste points on coffee:

A $5.62 Starbucks drink uses the same Dining Points you could spend on a $10 meal at the MarketPlace. If you need caffeine, the dining halls have free coffee with your meal swipe.

Stock up before semester end:

Dining Points vanish at the end of the year. In late April, use remaining points to buy non-perishable food at City Convenience — granola bars, drinks, snacks. Don't let points expire.

Consider going off-plan sophomore year:

If you move to apartment-style housing, you can drop the meal plan entirely and buy a Campus Connector plan or just cook. Groceries at Star Market or Trader Joe's in Allston cost significantly less than campus dining.

Guest swipes strategy:

Each plan comes with 10 guest swipes per semester. If you're not using them, bring a friend who's visiting or use them for visiting family members touring campus.