We have what you need to thrive.
Penn Dining welcomes you to campus. We are eager to share our dining cafés with you and demonstrate that we are a culture driven to create food that is alive with flavor and nutrition, prepared from scratch using authentic ingredients.
Reasons to get excited
- 18 Dining Locations
- Quality Ingredients
- Community Setting with Events
- Flexible Usage
First-Year Options
Being on a dining plan creates a sense of community among the Penn students, faculty, and staff. Through two first-year plans with varying combinations of visits to the all-you-care-to-eat residential dining cafes and Dining Dollars (used primarily at our retail locations), we know you’ll find something that fits your palate.
- Best for:
Eating more meals at our retail locations.
First-Year 187
- 187 swipes per semester
- $400 Dining Dollars per semester
- Averages to 12 meals per week
- Priced & contracted annually, billed per semester
- Best for:
Eating the majority of your meals at our all-you-care-to-eat locations.
First-Year 296
- 296 swipes per semester
- $125 Dining Dollars per semester
- Averages to 19 meals per week
- Priced & contracted annually, billed per semester
Special diet? We’ve got you covered.
Kosher? Halal? Jain? We have options to meet your needs.
Visit Campus Express to sign up and manage your dining plan
Want to know what's cooking?
Important Information
First-Year Need to Know
Are first-years required to have a dining plan?
First-year students are required to sign-up for one of the two First-Year Dining Plans. Students have until June 25, 2025 to select a plan. If you have not signed-up by that date we will automatically assign freshmen to the First Year 296 dining plan. Students wishing to change their dining plans may do so once during the Fall Change Period, August 26 to September 16, 2025, and once during the Spring Change Period, January 14 to February 4, 2026.
When does my Dining Plan start and end?
| Aug. 21 | Dining Plans Begin (First Day of NSO) |
|---|---|
| Aug. 26 | Fall Change Period Begins |
| Sep. 1 | Labor Day - limited operations |
| Sep. 16 | Fall Change Period Ends |
| Oct. 9-12 | Fall Break - limited operations |
| Nov. 27-30 | Thanksgiving Break - limited operations |
| Dec. 18 | End of Fall Term - All cafes closed, Fall swipes/visits expire |
What are Guest Swipes?
Guest Swipes allow you to share a meal with friends and family. All first-year dining plans include 10 guest swipes per semester. (The guest swipes are counted in the total semester allocation.)
Pricing & billing information
Dining plans represent contracts for the entire Academic Year, but are allocated/billed per semester. Fall 2025 billing will begin in July 2025. Dining plans purchased prior to July 1, 2025 will be posted to students’ bursar bills by July 2025. After that date, charges will be posted to students’ bursar bills on a rolling weekly basis. Spring 2026 billing will first appear on students’ bursar bills by November 2025. Spring 2026 plans purchased after that date will be billed on a rolling weekly basis.
Have more questions?
To see all of our FAQs about Dining please click here.