updated meal plans<\/a> for the 2026-2027 school year. The changes include new block meal plans, which allot students a certain number of meals per semester and can be redeemed at any time. Prior to this update, students could opt for meal plans that limited the number of meals by day instead of by semester.<\/p>\nFor the upcoming 2026-2027 year, students may select the new Weekly 14 plan, which offers 14 meals per week and may be used to either swipe into a dining hall or as a Meal Exchange at one of Pitt\u2019s on-campus restaurants. The plan also includes $500 Dining Dollars.<\/p>\n
In previous years, incoming first-year students were only able to choose one of three Unlimited Meal Plans, which granted full, unlimited access to the Eatery and The Perch, but were often more expensive than other options.<\/p>\n
The Unlimited Meal Plan with 50 Dining Dollars was the cheapest meal plan available for first-year students in the 2025-2026 school year at $2,935 per semester. Under the new program, Weekly 14 is the cheapest option available to first-years at a cost of $3,110 per semester.<\/p>\n
John Longo, vice president of Operations for Chartwells Higher Education, said the updated meal plans are designed to better accommodate students\u2019 dining habits and to reduce concerns about unused meals at the end of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlexibility, convenience and value are the foundations of the new meal membership program,\u201d Longo said. \u201cThe new plans offer more choice, reduce concerns about unused meals, and provide additional opportunities to use dining locations across campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longo said student feedback contributed to the change in dining options.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough surveys, focus groups and ongoing conversations, we heard that students wanted more flexibility to fit their busy schedules and evolving lifestyles,\u201d Longo said.<\/p>\n
The new Meal Exchange program will replace meal swaps for on-campus meal memberships. Meal swaps covered up to $12 in meals at on-campus restaurants. This price point made it difficult for students to enjoy a full meal at certain locations on campus, according to sophomore digital narrative and interactive design and computer science major Mia Melishchuk.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest issue with the old plans was that meal swaps were worth $12, but a lot of the time the food I wanted to order was just over that amount,\u201d Melishchuk said. \u201cAt Forbes [Street] Market, a sandwich, apple and drink cost more than $12.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longo said the new Meal Exchange program does not rely on the previous fixed $12 limit in order to offer more combinations for students.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, students can exchange a meal swipe for specially designed meal combinations that provide strong retail value and greater flexibility,\u201d Longo said. \u201cFor example, students may be able to choose an entr\u00e9e with two sides instead of an entr\u00e9e and beverage, creating a more personalized dining experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longo said the Meal Exchange program also will offer expanded dining options, including allergen-friendly and vegan options.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The program] provides students with access to a wider variety of menu options that accommodate diverse dietary needs and preferences, including vegetarian, vegan, allergen-conscious, and other specialized choices available across participating dining locations,\u201d Longo said.<\/p>\n
Francisco Lara, a sophomore computer science major who had the Unlimited meal plan with 150 Dining Dollars last year as a first-year, said he struggled to spend all of his allotted Dining Dollars by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I had easy access to [the] dining halls, I wound up with a couple unspent Dining Dollars at the end of the year,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n
Lara said he plans to use the Weekly 14 meal plan for the 2026-2027 school year, which allows students 14 meal swipes per week and includes 500 Dining Dollars per semester. Lara said he has mixed feelings about the updated meal plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Weekly 14 seems like a great plan for me as I normally eat twice a day, but the forcefully included Dining Dollars in all the meal plans is a definite downside,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n
Annie Achey, a sophomore biology major, said she likes the adaptability and offerings of the updated meal plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s incredibly flexible, [with the] emphasis on the number of swipes,\u201d Achey said. \u201cThe plan I chose, the Weekly 14, allows me the flexibility of multiple meal swaps and a large amount of Dining Dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pitt undergraduate students hope that new meal plans offered in the 2026-27 school year will create more flexibility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-265430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}