Meal Plans 101

Meal Swipes

Meal Swipes give you access to our Residential Dining Halls. Students living at Barrett Honors College have specific Barrett Dining Center meal plans. If you do not have a Barrett meal plan, you can still access the Barrett Dining Center. However, you will be charged an additional fee to be covered with your Maroon and Gold dollars. Barrett Dining Center students may dine at any Residential Dining Hall. Meals with the weekly meal plans reset every Thursday. There’s a 30-minute time gap in between each meal swipe. 

Maroon and Gold Dollars (M&G)

Maroon and Gold Dollars are dining dollars that may be used at Sun Devil Hospitality locations such as Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Pei Wei, Panda Express, Subway, Qdoba and much more!

There are three buckets of Maroon and Gold Dollars:

Mandatory M&G that comes with your mandatory meal plan. If you live on campus, you are required to have a meal plan. Those meal plans, including the All M&G plan, have mandatory M&G associated with them. These dollars must be used during the academic year of the meal plan. We define the academic year as the Fall, Spring, and first Summer Session semesters. If you do not use by the end of the summer session, all mandatory M&G dollars are forfeited.

Voluntary M&G is M&G that you purchase via our website or in person at the Meal Plan Office. You purchase this dollar for dollar and it rolls until you graduate or leave the university.

Bonus M&G is freebie dollars that we provide to you as part of a promotional campaign. These dollars are on your SunCard in a different bucket and will not be used until you have used all of your mandatory and/or voluntary M&G. You cannot use bonus M&G at any of our local vendor partners (then either list or link to them).

Bonus Maroon and Gold Dollars are dollars you received from the Bonus Reward Program and/or one of the monthly meal plan promotions throughout the year.

You may use the bonus dollars at any Sun Devil Hospitality location across all four campuses with the exception of Cartel Coffee, Fat Burger, Osaka Grill, Crepe Club, Bodhi Market, Domino's Pizza, Tempe's Engrained Restaurant, Bento Sushi, Burger King, Shake Smart, Charlie's Café, Spitz, Gigi's Gelato, Poke Zona, Jimmy John's Bowl of Greens (Downtown PHX), Everbowl (Downtown PHX), Taste Budzz (Downtown PHX), Serafina (Downtown PHX), Lofi Doggies (Polytechnic), Papa John's (West Valley), Wild Blue Sushi, Dominos Delivery, and any Food Truck Trucks.

What is Meal Exchange?

Meal Exchange allows you to use a Meal Swipe at one of our P.O.D. Markets or retail locations listed below, instead of M&G, card or cash. You exchange a Meal Swipe for a complete meal off our Meal Exchange menu that you can take and eat on the go. Meal Exchange adds to the value and the convenience of your Meal Plan! 

Where can I use a Meal Exchange?

Tempe: MU P.O.D., P.O.D. Warehouse, Tooker House P.O.D. GLV P.O.D., GLV P.O.D. Deli, Subway at Hassayampa, TLC at Tooker, Einstein's at Armstrong Hall

Downtown: P.O.D. Market, Flip Kitchen, Gordon Commons Deli, City Café Deli

West Campus: P.O.D. Market, Qdoba

Polytechnic Campus: P.O.D. Market, Subway

Guest Meals

Guest Meals can be used to treat friends or family to a meal in the all-you-care-to-eat dining halls. Guest Meals are not additional meals added to your plan, but are deducted from your overall weekly total. For example, Sparky’s Favorite meal plan includes 14 meals total of which 12 meals are for yourself plus two guest swipes for a guest. If you do not have a guest that week, you can use the guest swipes for yourself. On your receipt, you will see the meals allotted for the week plus the semester guest meals.  

Fall 2024 - Spring 2025 Key Dates

• August 17, 2024 – First day to use the Fall 2024 Semester M&G, Meal Exchange and Meals inside Dining Halls
• August 22, 2024 – First day of the Fall 2024 semester
• August 28 at 5 p.m. – Last day to accept Fall 2024 meal plan changes for Mandatory Resident students. No exceptions will be made after this date.
• October 12 - 15, 2024 – Fall Break; limited open dining locations and hours; Meal Swipes and Meal Exchange not available during Fall Break.
• November 28 - Dec. 2, 2024 – Thanksgiving Break; Meal Swipes and Meal Exchange not available during Thanksgiving Break.
• December 6, 2024 – Fall 2024 semester ends
• December 14, 2024 – Last meal served in the Dining Halls – Lunch, Meal Swipes, and Meal Exchange not available during Winter Break.
• January 12, 2025 – First day to use the Spring 2025 semester M&G, Meal Exchange and Meals inside the Dining Halls
• January 13, 2025 – First day of Spring 2025 semester
• January 20 at 5 p.m. – Last day to accept Spring 2024 Meal Plan Changes for Mandatory Resident Students
• March 8 - 16, 2025 – Spring Break; limited open dining locations and hours; Meal Swipes and Meal Exchange not available during Spring Break.
• May 2, 2025 – Spring 2025 semester ends
• May 10, 2025 – Last meal served in the Dining Halls – Lunch, Meal Swipes and Meal Exchange not available during Summer Break

*Dates subject to change