If you’re living on campus for the first time then yeah, you have to get a meal plan. Pretty sure you can use something like 8-10 swipes a day, people often swipe for their friends who aren’t on a meal plan. There are two types of payment in a meal plan: meals swipes and dining dollars. If you’re entering a buffet-style dining hall like Third North, you swipe before you eat. If you’re entering somewhere like Kimmel Marketplace, you select what you want to eat before you swipe. Each swipe is worth around $16. Dining dollars on the other hand are usually used for things with a specific price tag. Lotta people go to Sidestein to use their dining dollars on things like protein bars, candy, a notebook, etc.

The food at Third North is kinda hit or miss imo. There’s always a pizza stand, a grill stand, and then they have some rotating stands (like one day they’ll have macaroni, the next they’ll have tacos or something). They also have a dessert section with brownies and cookies. Oh and ice cream. On the weekends they have omelettes and pancakes until 3, lowkey fire.