Food

FAQ

Students eat and chat at a table in the dining center.

2025- 26 Service

The Basics

Fall Meal Plans start on Sunday, August 17.

You can use your meal plan swipes at any one of our following dining locations:

  • Bearcats Café 
  • Blue Ash Café on Blue Ash campus
  • Campus View Café 
  • Teachers Café
  • CenterCourt - Residential Dining Center
  • Cincy Grill 
  • Pei Wei
  • DAAP Café
  • MarketPointe - Residential Dining Center
  • On The Green (OTG) - Residential Dining Center
  • Halal Shack
  • StadiumView Café 

Use your Bearcat Dollars at any available on-campus food location.

Yes, students are permitted to use their guest swipes in dining centers. Students without a meal plan can use cash, credit or Bearcat Card dollars to purchase a meal.

You can meet with our full time Registered Dietitian Jackie Jones.

Please call 513-556-9800 or email UCFood@uc.edu.

All first-year students with a university housing agreement are required to purchase a residential meal plan.

Participation in the meal plan is an important part of the support system provided by living on campus. It is one element that enhances the academic efforts and social adjustment of new students and provides health and convenience benefits to all students.

Upper-class students and first year students that are commuters can choose to purchase a Residential Meal Plan or a Campus Dining Pass plan. They are not required to purchase a meal plan, however they must adhere to all meal plan change/cancellation policies once a plan is purchased. 

To be released from the meal plan you must present an extenuating cirrcumstance. For more information on the Meal Plan Petition process, please visit Sodexo My Way.

Having a kitchen in your living quarters is not a qualifying reason for a reduced or cancelled meal plan. Housing Assignment does not warrent a Meal Plan Accomodation.

Yes! We offer the Campus Dining Pass to upper-class students living in the residence halls, commuting students, faculty, and staff. 

Bearcat Card Dollars & Meal Exchange

Meal Exchanges are defined as a meal swipe used at one of our locations outside of the Residential Dining Centers.

There are two categories of Meal Exchange:

Signature Meal Exchange

Students may use up to 3 total meal swipes per week across the following locations: Halal Shack, Bearcats Café, and Pei Wei (not 3 per location).

Classic Meal Exchange

Use up to 3 swipes per day (one per meal period) at these participating locations: DAAP Café, Teachers Café, Blue Ash Café, Cincy Grill, and Stadium View. Carryout from On the Green, MarketPointe, and Centercourt also falls into this category. 

Meal Periods:

·    Breakfast: 7 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

·    Lunch: 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

·    Dinner: 4:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Each meal exchange includes one entrée, one side, and one beverage.

Meal Exchange can be used at the following locations:

  • Halal Shack (signature)
  • Pei Wei (signature)
  • Bearcats Cafe (signature)
  • DAAP Cafe (classic)
  • Teachers Cafe (classic)
  • Blue Ash Cafe (classic)
  • Cincy Grill (classic)
  • Stadium View (classic)

All three of our Residential Dining Centers offer carryout with our OZZI to-go boxes. Each All-Access Meal Plan Holder gets a free box with their meal plan. Students can carryout from On the Green, MarketPointe, and Centercourt up to 3 times per day, once per meal period. This is considered a Classic Meal Exchange.

Bearcat Card (BCC) dollar amounts can be added to the student’s ID throughout the year. Bearcat Card dollars may be spent at any on-campus food location (including the Dining Centers) as well as any off-campus location participating in the Bearcat Card program. Bearcat Card funds carry over from one semester to the next, and a refund of any unspent Bearcat Card dollars is available upon request at the end of spring semester or upon leaving UC.

For more information visit the Bearcat Card website.  

First year students can decide between the All-Access + Meal Plan and the standard All-Access Meal Plan.  With All-Access +, $150 Bearcat Dollars are added per semester. With the standard, Bearcat Cash does not come with the meal plan. You can always load Bearcat Dollars to your account on the Bearcat Card Website.

Simply add to your account in person at the MainStreet Connection Center or online at the Bearcat Card website.

Meal Swipes

You can look up your account balance on the Bearcat Card website.

Students can purchase more than one Campus Dining Pass each term. Just keep in mind that unused swipes do not carry over to the next semester.

Unused meal swipes carry over week to week, however they expire at the end of each semester.

Yes. The All-Access meal plan allows you to treat up to 15 guests per semester. Swipes from all Campus Dining Pass plans can be used to treat guests.

Yes! Dining Centers allow students, faculty, staff, parents, and the community to meet and enjoy all-you-care-to-eat dining in one easy location. Dining Centers accept Meal Plans, the Bearcat Card dollars, credit cards, and cash.