Dining & Meal Plan Policies

Meal plans are required for High School students and College students depending on academic level and/or residence with a few exceptions.

Requests for Release from Meal Plan

Requests from students not required to be on a specific plan need to be received before classes begin (preferably, before the residence halls open for the semester). Requests should be submitted by email to the Auxiliary Services Inbox at auxiliaryinbox@uncsa.edu. Once you arrive on campus, if you use any of the meals or bonus bucks associated with your meal plan, you will not be able to make an adjustment until the next semester.

What are unusual circumstances?

Students with unusual circumstances may seek to be released from the Meal Plan.  Unusual circumstances may include disability-related accommodation requests, as well as other unusual conditions/dietary needs.

Students with disabilities: All students with documented disabilities may seek accommodations in the academic or living environment on campus (including Dining Services) by supporting a request through documentation, which meets the university’s guidelines.  All disability-related requests for accommodation and documentation of a disability should be submitted directly to the Office of Learning Resources, UNCSA, 1533 South Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27127.  For information on the process for documenting a disability, students should contact the Office of Learning Resources via email learningresources@uncsa.edu, by phone at 336-726-6963, or visit the Accessibility website.

Students with unusual conditions or special dietary needs/restrictions: A complete listing of the unusual dietary needs must be shared with either the Director of Health Services, the Director of Counseling Services and/or the Director of Dining Services. Those staff members will review the documentation and may contact the reporting parties for additional information. The staff reviewing the documentation will be asked by the Meal Plan Appeal Committee for their recommendation as to accept or deny the appeal. The Dietitian in Health Services and the Director of Dining Services are members of the Meal Plan Appeal Committee, so they determine to what extent dining services can accommodate special dietary needs.

The process for submitting an appeal:

Meal Plan Appeal Procedure and Application

The Director of Purchasing, Contract, and Auxiliary Services will schedule a meeting of the Meal Plan Appeal Committee to review appeals. The Director of Purchasing, Contract, and Auxiliary Services will notify each student by email of the decision on his/ her appeal. If the appeal is upheld, the Director of Purchasing, Contract, and Auxiliary Services will notify the student, Dining Services and the Bursar's Office of Student Accounts.

Note: Until the Director of Purchasing, Contract, and Auxiliary Services notifies the various offices that an appeal has been upheld, a student may well be enrolled and billed for the meal plan.

The decisions of the Meal Plan Appeal Committee are final.  A student may submit a new appeal in a subsequent semester if he or she had new grounds for an appeal.

Meal Plan Appeal Committee

The Meal Plan Appeal Committee is composed of: Director of Purchasing, Contract, and Auxiliary Services; Associate Director of Auxiliary Services; Aramark's General Manager and Dietician; UNCSA Medical Provider:  Catherine Goodyear, Sharon Summers, and/or Brooke Orr. The committee hears appeals from those students who may have highly unusual reasons for requesting exceptions from the board/meal plan regulations. 

An application for meal plan changes during the academic year must be submitted according to the following schedule:

  • April 5 for a Fall semester change for returning students
  • July 1 for a Fall semester change for new students
  • Oct. 20 for a Spring semester change all students

Rules of Conduct in Dining Spaces

The following regulations should be noted regarding dining services in the Dining Hall, Pickle Jar, P.O.D. Market & Library Café:

  • Your One Card MUST be swiped for admission to the dining hall and are not transferable. Transferring a meal to another student is considered theft and carries an automatic fine of $50 as well as judicial action.
  • No one eating in the dining hall will be allowed to provide food for another student, visitor, faculty or staff member. All food must be eaten in the dining hall except with special permission of dining services staff. Violators of this policy may be referred to the Judicial Coordinator for theft of school property.
  • Everyone must wear shoes and shirts in all dining facilities (Dining Hall, Pickle Jar, P.O.D. Market & Library Café.
  • Any person in the dining hall without paying will be barred from the dining hall for a period of one month for the first offense and for one semester for the second offense. Students not on a meal plan or visitors are permitted in the dining hall during meal times only if they have paid for the meal.
  • Carrying out trays, china, silver and/or glasses is prohibited. Violators will be cited with theft of school property, which carries a fine of $50.
  • The dining hall is self- busing. Each person must carry trays, plates, glasses and tableware to the conveyor and discard all trash in the cans provided.
  • Throwing food is prohibited.
  • The balcony off the dining hall is a non-smoking area.
  • Students, faculty or staff members who do not have time to sit down in the dining hall to eat a meal may purchase one (1) take-out box from the cashier as they enter. They will leave their One Card with the cashier. Individuals who receive a take-out box may not consume any food while in the dining hall. When a student is sick, he/she should obtain a written verification from a Wellness Center or Residence Life professional staff member for their designee to present to the cashier on his/her behalf for a take-out box.