Dining Plan Options

Dining Plans

As a student living in the residence halls at Oregon State University, you are required to have a dining plan. As a new student, you can choose from one of four dining plans, which give you Dining Dollars to spend at restaurants, cafes, and stores operated by UHDS.

The per-term Dining Dollar amounts are billed to your OSU student account and added to your OSU ID card at the beginning of each term, similar to a balance on a debit card. Dining Dollars are flexible; you may spend as much or as little each day as you wish each day, at more than 25 dining locations around campus.

To pay for your food, simply present your OSU ID card to the cashier.
To track your spending, visit the Housing Portal.

The table below shows the amount each plan will cost in 2024-25.

Plan 1	Plan 2	Plan 3	Plan 4	Plan 5*
$1,600 / Term	$1,400 / Term	$1,200 / Term	$1000 / Term	$800 / Term
$4,800 / Year	$4,200 / Year	$3,600 / Year	$3,000 / Year	$2,400 / Year

*For 2024-25, Dining Plan 5 is available only to returning on-campus residents.

Students living in UHDS apartments will not be eligible for a dining plan, but they can use Orange Cash instead.

Resident Discounts

As a campus resident, your dining plan offers additional buying power at dining center micro-restaurant locations. Use your Dining Dollars at locations in Marketplace West, McNary Dining Center and Southside Station @ Arnold and receive a 20 percent discount.

At other UHDS locations and markets, residents who use their dining plans get a 10 percent discount. This includes Off the Quad in the Memorial Union, Cascadia Market & Café at the International Living-Learning Center (ILLC), EBGBs in Marketplace West, Raintree and MainSqueeze in McNary Dining Center, and many more.

Orange Cash

Orange Cash is a separate account on your OSU ID Card that allows you to receive a 10 percent discount at more than 25 food locations on campus, including those in the MU Commons that do not accept UHDS Dining Dollars. Anyone affiliated with OSU may have an Orange Cash account.

Note: The previous inclusion of the one-time-only $100 Orange Cash deposit with the offsetting charge to the student's account in the UHDS housing contract has been discontinued effective Fall 2022. It will not show on the student's OSU ID card nor on their Student Banner Account. However, UHDS dining plans now work at most dining locations where Orange Cash is accepted (exceptions are MU Commons restaurants and campus vending machines), so students still have the ability to use their OSU ID card to purchase food across campus.

Learn more about Orange Cash

Add Orange Cash

Rollover Dining Plan

If you do not spend all of your Dining Dollars during one academic year, Rollover Dining Plan funds will be automatically rolled over on your OSU ID card for the following year.

The Rollover Dining Plan funds must be used within one year; any unused Rollover funds will expire at the end of Spring Term the following year.
If you are not continuing as an OSU student, you will not be eligible for Rollover Dining Plan funds.
Students who return to campus housing for a second year will continue to receive a 20 percent discount on dining center purchases when spending their Rollover funds. Students who live off campus will receive a 10 percent discount when using Rollover funds.

Changing Dining Plans

Residents can make changes to their dining plan by visiting the Housing Portal.

For the first three weeks of each term, you can select a larger or smaller plan.
After the third week, you can adjust to a larger plan only.
Plan 5 is only available to campus residents who have returned to live on campus beyond their first year. To select this plan, please email us at housing@oregonstate.edu. It cannot be selected through the portal.

Use the chart below to help determine if you are on track with budgeting your dining plan during the term or if you need to upgrade or downgrade your plan. The amount shown is approximately what the remaining balance should be at the start of the week.

Week	Plan 1 $ left in plan	Plan 2 $ left in plan	Plan 3 $ left in plan	Plan 4 $ left in plan	Plan 5 $ left in plan
START	1600	1400	1200	1000	800
Week 2	1455	1273	1091	909	727
Week 3	1310	1146	982	818	654
Week 4	1165	1019	873	727	581
Week 5	1020	892	764	636	508
Week 6	875	765	655	545	435
Week 7	730	638	546	454	362
Week 8	585	511	437	363	289
Week 9	440	384	328	272	216
Week 10	295	257	219	181	143
Week 11	150	130	110	90	70

estimating your dining plan usage

How you spend your Dining Dollars is entirely up to you, and will be determined by a variety of factors. Will you eat some meals off campus, or want to occasionally cook for yourself? Will you eat primarily in a dining center (with the 20% discount), or use robot delivery (with no discount)? Calorie needs, desired portions, and cultural or dietary needs may also determine how you use your dining plan.

In general, our dining plans range from "most meals on most days" for Plan 1 to "one or two meals on weekdays" for Plan 4. We recommend incoming students start with Plan 2 or 3, and adjust as needed based on their habits. We encourage students to keep track of their weekly spending in the Housing Portal, and use the weekly balance estimates above to determine if adjustments need to be made.

Food