University Housing

University Housing Meal Plans

Students living in a first-year residence hall (Bluff, Prairie, or Woodland Halls) are required to purchase a Residential Meal Plan (A, B, or C). Residential Meal Plans are also available for purchase by Cougar Village Apartments and Evergreen Hall residents but are not required.  

Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C are an "a la carte" structure, meaning you pay for what you eat. The selected meal plan will be loaded on to the SIUE Cougar Card at the beginning of the semester and the Cougar Card is used like a debit card at campus dining locations.  

Students selecting Residential Meal Plans A, B, and C pre-pay a percentage of the meal plan cost to fund fixed costs in dining services (i.e., supplies, utilities, labor, and maintenance). The full meal plan cost MINUS the amount that was pre-paid is then loaded onto the Cougar Card. The remaining meal plan amount on the Cougar Card is available to spend for food purchases.  

Since students have pre-paid a portion of their costs, food prices at the register, when purchased with Meal Plans A, B, or C, are substantially discounted by the percentage of the fixed costs already taken off the top. Also, students using Residential Meal Plans A, B, or C do not pay sales tax on their food purchases. 

Our students are able to eat wherever they want on our campus using their meal plan. Discount pricing is not available at Union Station. 

Any balance remaining on the meal plan at the end of the fall semester rolls over to the spring semester for use.