Saturday, November 7, 2009
NRO stands for “New Resident Orientation.” NRO dining points are intended to provide meals for incoming on-campus students during the orientation period. Students admitted to the university who have accepted housing with Resident Life are automatically enrolled in this event. The student dining plans do not provide food for these additional resident days. NRO points allow students to buy meals in the dining rooms before the regular dining plan begins.
Unused NRO points roll over into the Terp Bucks portion of the fall semester dining plan.
Dining plan options may be changed each semester through the third week of classes. Requests should be made in writing, through email, or in person at the Contract Office in the South Campus Dining Hall. Please provide your name, student ID number, and name of dining plan you want.
You must request cancellation in writing. Once we verify the cancellation of your housing contract, we will cancel your dining plan. Please provide your name, student ID number, and reason for cancellation.
You can view dining plans points for the current semester. If you’ve purchased a plan for an upcoming academic semester about two weeks before classes start, you can see that you have purchased a plan. As soon as your dining plan is live, your balance will appear.
Budgeting is a system designed by University of Maryland students for two reasons:
Only Resident Points are subject to the budgeting system. Focus dates are designed to help you budget your Resident Points throughout the semester; they remind students what their Resident Point balance should be. Focus dates and maximum account balances are posted in the dining rooms and online. Resident Points above the maximum account balance allowed at a focus date expire.
Students living in traditional housing (a dorm room without a private kitchen) are required to have a dining plan. This requirement is based on on-campus residence status; not class standing, proximity to permanent residence, dietary preferences, or other circumstances.
The primary exemption is release from your traditional residence hall contract (either moving to a resident apartment or complete cancellation of the contract). Your key must be returned before Resident Life will cancel your housing contract. To cancel your dining plan, bring your receipt of housing contract cancellation with you to the Contract Office at the South Campus Dining Hall.
The second reason for exemptions includes medical or religious reasons. In either case, you will need to meet with Dining Services Advisors for proper evaluation; any adjustment will be made based on their recommendation. You are responsible for providing related documentation.
You can still meet with the Dining Services Advisors. Bring documentation to this meeting. Most times, we discover that our dining plans can satisfy the student’s dietary needs. Advisors will take the time to understand your situation and will research and evaluate your request. We ask that requests be reasonable and have a sound basis.
Dining plans are required for all students who reside in traditional halls or suites by the Department of Resident Life policy. Traditional halls and suites are not equipped for student to cook their own meals, remove the food waste, or maintain sanitary conditions.
Yes, as long as you accompany them.
You will receive an electronic invoice from the Bursar’s Office indicating the amount of room and board due. You can send your payment directly to the Bursar’s Office.
1109 South Campus Dining Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301-314-8069
Fax: 301-314-9234
We recommend that you open a Terrapin Express account. Dining plans are for a fixed number of points and expire at the end of the semester. Except for the Apartment Plan, these plans cannot be expanded. Terrapin Express is accepted at all of our dining locations and those points roll over to the next semester.
Part of this fee is placed into the capital fund as mandated by the University of Maryland. The remainder of this fee is used to maintain facilities and services. Dining Services is a self-supported department of the university and does not receive funding from the University of Maryland or State of Maryland.
Red Plan students start the semester with the same number of Resident Points as students on other plans. We add the additional points to your account in the middle of the semester so that you are not penalized early in the semester and have more points available to you toward the end of the semester. Once you receive the added points, you are not subject to focus dates that semester.
Submit a written statement that you have completed two semesters on a dining plan and that you would like to opt out of the budgeting system. Once we receive your request and verify the number of semesters on a dining plan, we will disable the budgeting system for your account.
When the program was revised, there were concerns that some students would have so many points at the end of the semester that they would feel compelled to spend them all, causing longer lines and staffing and supply issues. The cap was proposed by RHA to help curb those concerns.
There may be several reasons. First, you may not qualify. Second, you may not have had a dining plan for two full semesters (students who came in after the first week of the dining plan fall into this category). Third, the semesters must be consecutive. If you believe you were rejected in error, email us before the deadline and we will check your official records.
Terrapin Express is a wonderful alternative to carrying cash. It is an on-campus pre-paid debit card accessed by your university ID card. You can open this account at the Terrapin Express Office and you can add money to it by calling or stopping by the Terrapin Express Office during business hours. You can use Terrapin Express at dining locations and non-dining locations across campus, including WAM labs for pay for print and the Library to photocopy. For a complete listing of participating locations, go to Terrapin Express locations.
There are three ways to check your balance: ask any Dining Services cashier for a receipt, call the Terrapin Express Office, or go to Check Your Balance on our website.
Dining plan points cannot be transferred to Terrapin Express.
Dietary concerns can be addressed by our Dietitian at 301-314-8058, or through email at nutrition@dining.umd.edu. Vegan and vegetarian options are available in both dining rooms, including the vegan station, Sprouts, in The Diner. A full kosher meal plan is offered through Hillel.
Frito-Lay does not sell barbecue potato chips in bulk; therefore, we cannot add them to our dining room sandwich lines. We cannot change chip suppliers based on our current contract. Individual bags of Frito-Lay barbecue chips are available in the convenience shops.
The veggie burger cooked in the grill area of both dining rooms is produced by Morningstar and is vegetarian only. The flame-grilled burger available at Sprouts in The Diner is produced by Gardenburger and is vegan.
Yes, soy milk is available at Footnotes Café for espresso drinks.
We only identify the main entree items and some side items as vegan or vegetarian since all of the vegetables for the value menu are steamed without any additional ingredients. If a menu item does have something added to it, we identify it within the name of the item, for example, “Buttered Broccoli.” When we advertise that something is “buttered,” we are using 100% vegetable margarine not dairy butter.
You can place your order for a decorated or gourmet bakery cake at one of eight campus locations: The Commons Shop, The North Campus Shop, The Union Shop, Rudy´s Café, Applause Café, E&M Deli, Footnotes Café, and The Dairy. A fax order form and menu are available online through our Pick It Up at the Shops program.
Value Meals are moderately priced daily specials available for lunch and dinner in The Diner and South Campus Dining Room. These meals are bundled to provide culinary interest, variety, and selection. Monthly menus may be viewed online or in our dining rooms.
Contact the Hillel Center and sign a meal plan contract with them to receive a kosher meal plan. Students planning on living in traditional on-campus housing must still select one of our dining plan options. Before the semester begins, Hillel will send us a list of students who have contracted for a full kosher meal plan. We then cancel the contracts and credit the accounts of students who are using the Hillel as their full-time dining room.
The Kosher Meal plan is only good at the Hillel Center.
Yes. An apartment dining plan purchased in the fall semester is available during winter session. An apartment dining plan purchased in the spring semester is available during both summer sessions. If you are not eligible for an apartment dining plan, we suggest that you activate your Terrapin Express account and use that account to eat on campus during winter and summer.
No. The register system will query for payment method in the following order: Resident Points, Terp Bucks, and finally Terrapin Express. The system will always accept payment from Resident Points first if the funds are available. As long as payment is accepted through the card system, we do not generally notify customers from which account the payment was accepted.
The quickest way to freeze any account is to go online and report your card lost or stolen. If you prefer, you can call the lost card telephone line, 301-314-8064, to report the lost card and have your dining account frozen. Replace your card by going to the Mitchell Building during business hours. Once replaced, please call our Contract Office to reactivate your dining plan account.
Terrapin Treats are care packages assembled on campus and sent to you by someone who loves you. There are monthly packages as well as a Birthday Celebration Treat. The packages will be delivered to the convenience store nearest your residence hall, and you will be notified of its arrival.
Our campus uses so many carryout containers in a year that no supplier is willing to guarantee as many as we need. Because the sizes that are available in recyclable carryout do not match the foam carryout containers and because the containers function differently, we cannot go back and forth based on availability. Finally, when they are available, each container costs about four times as much as the foam containers we currently supply.
