FAQs

Dining

What do your services and offerings look like?

CSU’s Residential Dining Services offers a wide range of innovative venues and services to meet the dining needs of everyone on campus. We are committed to continuing to offer a robust dining program that adheres to all public health and University guidelines. Our website will continue to be updated to address changes.

How can I use my meal plan with Grubhub at the Express and Café locations?

Residential Dining Services offers online ordering with Grubhub. Order hot and cold entrée items, breakfast entrees, sides, and your favorite coffee drinks. Order with Grubhub for pick up at Durrell Express, and RAMwich Express in Braiden Hall. Residential meal plans, RamCash, credit/debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are accepted at all locations. Payments are processed when the order is placed.

  • Download the Grubhub app and create a new account.
  • Select Colorado State University and choose your affiliation; student, faculty, staff, etc.
  • Add your RamCard as your payment method. You will need to log in with your NetID credentials.
  • Go straight to our list of locations and order!

Residential meal plans carry a value of $9.00 per meal swipe at the Express locations. Customers may select any combination of items that add up to $9.00. If your selections go over $9.00, the balance may be settled by using RamCash or another tender that you have added.

Example: You purchased food and drinks for $10.50 from Durrell Express. To settle the remaining balance of $1.50, customers can choose under ‘Select Payment’ to use a second meal swipe (meal plan) or use one meal swipe + RamCash for the remainder. Purchases using RamCash are taxable.

Can my parents or guests join me for meals?

Parents and legal guardians are welcome to eat with their residence hall student twice every two weeks at any of our dining centers for free (available during Fall and Spring semesters). To be admitted, parents or guardians need to be accompanied by their student and introduced to the meal checker.  All other guests can be hosted with a bonus/flexible meal from an on-campus meal plan holder or pay at the door.

I don’t have a meal plan. Can I still eat in the dining centers?

Yes! Guests can purchase a meal at the door or utilize a flexible meal from a student with a  residence hall meal plan. Off-campus meal plans and faculty/staff can also be purchased via myramcard.colostate.edu. To order from our express locations, you must have a valid CSU eID.

Why don't my meals roll over?

Residence hall meal plans are weekly so unused meals do not roll over. These meal plans are designed to allow our on-campus students who live in the residence halls to better manage their meals each week rather than ending the semester with a block of unused meals. The weekly meal plans allow Dining Services to adequately plan operating costs. Without the ability to plan budgets at the beginning of the year and plan for staff, food costs, facility improvements, etc. we would have to raise meal plan rates.

How do I change my meal plan?

The deadline for decreasing residence hall meal plans is two weeks after classes begin each semester. During this time, you can decrease your meal plan to better fit your needs. Meal plan increases are permitted at any time during the semester.

Manage your meal plan:

  • Go to myramcard.colostate.edu and select Student/Faculty & Staff Login located in the upper left-hand corner of screen, and login with your eID credentials *(Do not skip this step, or you will not be able to view your account information)
  • Once logged in, select Manage/Purchase Meal Plan on the left hand side of the menu under the Meal Plan heading
  • Next, select the meal plan change link under Residence Hall Resident
  • You will be directed to the login page for the CSU Housing Portal > login with your eID credentials
  • Select Change Your Meal Plan, then Select Meal Plan
  • Make the appropriate meal plan selection from the drop down menu and click Save & Continue to confirm your changes

What should I do if I run out of meals?

Each Residence hall meal plan includes flexible bonus meals that can be used if you run out of meals. Additional flexible bonus meals can be purchased with a minimum of five meals. Flexible bonus meals must be used in the semester they are purchased. Meals can be added at myramcard.colostate.edu

Can I cancel my Residence Hall Meal Plan?

If you are seeking an exemption from the meal plan requirement due to a special dietary need, you will need to contact University Housing residence halls at (970) 491-6511 to acquire instructions and paperwork to complete.

What's the difference between my meal plan and RamCash?

Each Residence hall meal plan includes $150 RamCash (billed separately) separate from your meal balance that can be used for eating at venues on campus, vending machines, laundry, and parking. RamCash dollars carry over from semester to semester. Learn more about RamCash.

I have questions about my meal charges on my RamCard. What do I do?

Fill out the meal-swipe-dispute-form and e-mail it to rds@colostate.edu

What are the hours of each dining meal period?

As a meal plan holder, you can swipe up to 2 meal swipes per meal period at all of our dining locations. Our meal periods (for all residential dining centers) are as follows, these are not our facility hours of operation, find those here: https://housing.colostate.edu/dining/hours-explore/

Our meal periods (for all residential dining centers) are as follows:

  • Breakfast: 6 a.m. – 10:59 a.m.
  • Lunch: 11 a.m. – 1:59 p.m.
  • Late Lunch: 2 p.m. – 4:59 p.m.
  • Dinner: 5 p.m. – 7:59 p.m.
  • Late Night: 8 p.m. – 11 p.m.

Please note: Meal swipes will be charged to the meal period a Grubhub order is placed, not the pick-up time.

When do my weekly meal plans reset?

  • Residence hall meal plans reset every Saturday morning at 12:00 a.m. At that point, all unused meals disappear, and a new set of weekly meals will appear on your RamCard.
  • On-campus students are permitted to use two meal swipes per meal period (to pay for additional expenses, to get an extra to-go meal, or to swipe in a friend)– we have a total of four meal periods, allowing use of up to 8 meal swipes per day.

I have a CSU Apartment/Off Campus meal plan and my unused meals are about to expire, what should I do?

Unused meals purchased prior to and during the 2022-2023 academic year will expire on June 30, 2023.

You may donate your anticipated unused meals to Rams Against Hunger, which provides several services to students, faculty, and staff experiencing food insecurity.  Please contact the Residential Dining Services office at rds@colostate.edu or 970-491-4754 with questions or a donation request.

Who do I contact about special dietary needs such as food allergies or if I see discrepancies on the online menus?

Go to eatwell.colostate.edu to get in contact with our Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. You can also find information about what we serve and how we identify certain ingredients.

Will my meal plan work at Lory Student Center?

No, your residential dining meal plan can only be used at one of our 4 full-service dining centers, 2 marketplaces, and 3 express/café locations housing.colostate.edu/dining/explore. Please visit the Lory Student Center site to see their dining offerings lsc.colostate.edu/dining-at-the-lory-student-center.

I am not feeling well, can a friend pick up a meal for me?

A sick meal request allows a student to have a friend pick up a to-go meal for them from a dining center.  If a student is sick, they may complete the Sick Meal Request form. The friend will need to present either a paper or electronic copy of the completed “Sick Meal Request” form to the cashier upon arrival. The cashier will charge the sick student’s RamCard account using their CSU ID number, and the friend can pick up a meal for the sick student.