Zoe Berg

Standard meal swipes will not be accepted at Commons or the Bow Wow next school year, and students on the full meal plan will have unlimited swipes to access residential college dining halls.

Students have previously been able to use their lunch swipe to get a meal from the restaurant-style Commons or the grab-and-go Bow Wow, both in the Schwarzman Center. According to the 2025-26 academic year meal plan offerings, recently published online and announced in an email to returning students on Monday, students on all meal plans will now be granted points for “retail locations,” which include Commons, the Bow Wow, the Elm and Steep Cafe. 

The full plan will provide 300 points per semester, and the “flex” plan will provide 600. All first years are required to purchase the full plan, which has previously not offered points — making the incoming first-year class the first to be able to dine in the Elm or the Ivy on a meal plan, instead of paying out of pocket.

Students on the full plan will be able to use multiple swipes in one meal period, even at different dining halls — with the exception of the kosher dining hall in the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life, which will only accept one swipe per meal period.

The changes appear to encourage students to eat more in residential colleges.

Yale Hospitality’s email to students on Monday said: “Residential College life is an important part of the Yale experience, and Yale Hospitality wants to ensure that students (especially first-year students) have as much access as possible to dine and create community in the Residential Dining Halls.”

The costs of the full and flex plans for the 2025-26 school year are set to increase by $500 compared to the recently completed school year — to $9,100 from $8,600 — according to a Yale webpage with the breakdown of student expenses. The total cost of attending Yale College — including tuition, room and board — will be $90,550, 3.9 percent higher than the current term bill.

The new meal plans come after a change to residential college dining hall offerings this spring, in which dining halls adopted new extended hours and new breakfast and lunch menu items.

The meal plan changes were met with significant student disapproval on social media outlets such as Fizz and Instagram during the weekend prior to Yale Hospitality’s email. Some students who posted on the platforms or spoke with the News expressed worry about how the changes might impact their ability to eat regularly in Commons and the Bow Wow.

Justina Owusu Safo ’28 also heavily relied on Commons and the Bow Wow this past year to gain access to meals after 2:30 p.m., by which time most dining halls were closed.

 “With the new point cap, I’m concerned students with similar schedules will be limited in their choices and forced to ration meals instead of eating when and where it’s most convenient for them,” Owusu Safo said.

Administrators say the changes will improve student life.

Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis told the News that he expects the changes to strengthen the role of dining in building the Yale community and simplify the college experience.

In an email to the News, he said that students can have “unlimited access to food” in residential colleges through the full plan.

Some students posting on Fizz about the developments believed that administrators did not sufficiently seek out students’ input on the dining overhaul.

Jodi Smith Westwater, Yale’s assistant vice president for Hospitality, wrote in a statement to the News that Yale Hospitality considered student feedback in making the changes, though she did not elaborate how it was collected. Smith said that the plans will continue to provide access to retail options on campus.

“The additional dining points included in all meal plans will ensure continued access to retail options across campus and added flexibility in how students spend,” Westwater wrote. “Additionally a special ‘points’ price at Commons will be available, ensuring continued accessibility for all meal plan holders to dine there.”

Yale Hospitality’s email to students on Monday said the cost in points for each Commons meal will be decided over the summer.

There are 16 retail cafés and restaurants at Yale.

Isobel McClure contributed reporting.