Frequently Asked QuestionsQ. What are the meal plan choices for students living in the residence halls?
A. There are four meal plans for students living in the residence halls: Gold Meal Plan, 20-Meal Plan, 15-Meal Plan and 10-Meal Plan. The Gold Meal Plan allows unlimited access to the residence hall dining rooms during serving hours. The other three meal plans are declining balance, meaning a certain number of accesses to Dining Services are provided each week.
Q. What is the most popular meal plan?
A. The Gold Meal Plan
Q. How do meal plans work?
A. Meal plans are loaded on the student’s Bronco ID card. All the student needs to do is present their valid Bronco ID card to the door checker, and the card is swiped through a card reader. The reader verifies the student has a meal plan and the student may now enter the dining hall. Inside the dining hall, students may select from any of the choices available. The dining halls are mostly self-serve, so the student may select the quantity of any choices according to their own appetite. Once the student is done eating, the student returns their dishes and utensils to the dish return area. Food and beverages are not to be taken from the dining hall.
For the declining balance meal plans (20-Meal Plan, 15-Meal Plan and 10-Meal Plan), the meal plan week begins with Monday breakfast and ends just after Late-night Carryout on Sunday. Any unused meals left as of midnight on Sunday are lost and are not refundable. Students do not need to remember how many meals they have remaining for the week as once the Bronco ID card is swiped, the number of meals remaining for that week is displayed on the reader. Meals are only available for use by the Bronco ID cardholder.
Q. Can students change their meal plan?
A. Students living in the residence halls may make one change to their meal plan at the beginning of the semester. The time frame to make this change is the day before Dining Services opens for the semester until September 29 for fall semester, and January 30 for spring semester. To make the change, the student logs onto the meal plan change site, located on the Dining Services Web page using their Bronco NetID and password.
Once the student changes their meal plan, a credit or charge will be applied to the student’s account based on a daily proration of the meal plan cost. If the dining plan change has a lower cost than the original choice, the student may be entitled to a refund for the difference. To receive a refund all University fees must be paid in full. If not, the credit from the dining plan change will be applied to any outstanding balance on the student account. Once all University charges are paid, the refund will be processed according to the Accounts Receivable processing schedule. From more information on your student account contact Bronco Express at 269-387-6000.
Q. What are Dining Dollars?
A. Dining Dollars are a prepaid account to make purchases at WMU Dining Services locations. The WMU Dining Service Campus Cafés, which are retail locations throughout campus, accept Dining Dollars (along with cash, and some locations also accept MasterCard® or Visa®). Additionally, students can use their Dining Dollars to purchase a meal for a guest at the dining hall checker’s stand. Dining Dollars are loaded on the student’s Bronco ID card. The guest meal rate is deducted from the student's Dining Dollars account for individually purchased meals. (Please put a link to the guest meal rate page.)
To use Dining Dollars, the student presents their valid Bronco ID card to the cashier or dining hall door checker. The purchase amount is deducted from the Dining Dollars account. The balance remaining in a Dining Dollars account is displayed on the cash register screen or card reader as the purchase is completed. Dining Dollars that are included with a meal plan and are not used by the end of the current semester do not roll over to any subsequent semester or session.
Each meal plan has a beginning balance of Dining Dollars included, and the student can add more Dining Dollars at any time. Dining Dollars included with a meal plan are utilized before additionally purchased Dining Dollars are used. Dining Dollars that are purchased separately from a meal plan continue to roll over from semester to semester until the student graduates or leaves the University.
Q. Are all students required to have a meal plan?
A. Students living in the residence halls are required to have a meal plan as part of the Residence Hall and Dining Contract. There are three residence halls that allow a “room only” contract: Harrison, Stinson and Henry Halls.
Q. What meal plan options are available for commuter students and WMU apartment residents?
A. Commuter students and WMU apartment residents purchase meal plans by the semester. In addition to the meal plan options available to residence hall students, there are “block meal plan” options available to commuter students. The block meal plans are: Commuter 100, Commuter 75 and Commuter 50 meal plans. The block meal plans include 100, 75, or 50 accesses to dining halls in the semester, respectively.
Students can purchase commuter meal plans online. Commuter Meal Plans may be charged to a WMU student account, or purchased online with a MasterCard®, Visa® or Discover® credit card. To pay by cash or check, students should come to the Dining Services office in room 161 at the Bernhard Center.
Q. What is available to students that have food allergies or other special dietary needs?
A. With the many choices offered in Dining Services, almost all special needs can be met. Given the unique needs of students with special dietary needs, individual consultation is encouraged. For assistance or guidance with food choices, ask to speak with the Dining Manager or call the dietitian at 387-4846.
Q. What arrangements can be made if a student is sick and cannot come to the dining hall?
A. If you are ill and cannot leave your room for a meal, you may obtain a sick tray meal as follows:
