Attention off-campus students: Were you ever looking to swipe into the dining commons this past year but couldn’t because you didn’t have the meal points?
Well the time has come, sort of.
Beginning in the fall semester, off-campus students will be able to purchase a Commuter Meal Plan, courtesy of Penn State’s Housing and Food Services, to accommodate those students looking for a quick and easy meal at any food location on-campus.
But, if you were hoping this meal plan would be the same one on-campus students receive, think again.
Lisa Wandel, director of residential dining for Housing and Food Services, said that students looking to purchase this meal plan will be given the option of two levels – the first being $500 and the second $1,000.
The purpose of the meal plan was to provide a cheaper option of on-campus food services to students living off-campus.
The monetary level that a student chooses, though, will be given fully to the student’s LionCash amount, not meal points. The same LionCash discount will be applied.
“The main advantage, or only one, is that students are able to charge it to their bursar account,” Wandel wrote in an email.
Unfortunately, students will not be able to add funds through this meal plan option once the deadline to purchase the plan is over, she said.
“The sign-up period will be very short and has to be done before the Bursar office sends out their fall bills,” she wrote.
Interested off-campus students will have from June 15 to July 13 by 5 p.m. to purchase the commuter meal plan for the fall semester. Any leftover funds, Wandel wrote, will be transferred over to spring semester. The sign-up period for the spring semester will be Oct. 1 to Nov. 16 by 5 p.m.
