Having one dining hall at a SLAC could be annoying at times, especially if you wanted to avoid certain people. But it was good to see your friends.

I also studied abroad and there was a dining hall in the UK, but there was a points system and each food item was a certain number of points and you could not go over the amount allotted. We actually had lunch ladies in weird Victorian style outfits grab things off our tray if we were over points for the meal. I am petite but I was hungry often and often had migraines during this study abroad. They went away after I came home. One girl in my program ended up having an eating disorder while dealing with this meal system and had to leave early.

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t about all you can eat, it is about freshman having a sense of community and an opportunity to socialize every evening. Having a large dining room right by the dorms allows students to meet others in a way that having multiple eateries and markets to use your dining dollars does not.

So the colleges that do not even have one common dining hall that is all you can eat or where everyone gathers:

UCSD
Carnegie Melon
GW?

Any others?

UCSD does have several large dorm adjacent dining halls as well as more specialized ones (sushi, noodles, bbq, poke etc). But none are set up cafeteria style like when I went there in the 80's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Boston College in the 90s and it was all a points system. It was never an issue. So many people had points leftover at the end of the year that the dining hall (at least McElroy) put out big bags of candy and packs of soda for people to buy because the points don’t carry over. My brother loved getting giant bags of gummy bears from me.

These colleges gave been feeding students for decades. It’ll be fine.

This may shock you to hear, but it's changed. BC dining charges a la carte, for each item, and does not have the unlimited buffet-style meal plan. The dining hall (McElroy where most freshman and sophomores eat) is set up in the old dining hall style of long communal tables. Still, I haven't heard any complaints (besides the usual that it's expensive and it's not fine dining).

I’m not sure of the definitions of swipes, points, a la carte, but I have a freshman at BC. He starts each semester with preset $ amount ($3000 or so) like a debit card and pays for every item he buys. But, more to the point of this thread, I think, is that the dining hall is a very social place, at least most weekday dinners. The big dining hall is almost exclusively freshman and sophomores and I think it lends itself well with getting together and hanging out a bit after the day’s classes and/or before evening study.

Food is humane. For $90K/yr, it's worth spending a little more on food (if it even costs more!) to make college feel like community.
College shouldn't be teaching young adults how to be sad diabetic loners.

Crappy old dorms with food beat fancy new dorms with sad Chik fil A.

Is the point that for $90k, we expect a college to have a community feel (as BC does)?

Anonymous wrote:One of the schools DC is considering is Loyola Marymount. I was checking out the student newspaper and one article in the student paper was about how students are excited that starting fall 2026 some of the dining halls will use swipes instead of points.

I wonder if one of the reasons schools moved away from unlimited is because of food “theft.” I remember some students bringing Tupperware and packing food for later.

Our lunch lady was such a crazy mall cop about it that half the fun of eating was trying to sneak an apple past her as the door.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Boston College in the 90s and it was all a points system. It was never an issue. So many people had points leftover at the end of the year that the dining hall (at least McElroy) put out big bags of candy and packs of soda for people to buy because the points don’t carry over. My brother loved getting giant bags of gummy bears from me.

These colleges gave been feeding students for decades. It’ll be fine.

This may shock you to hear, but it's changed. BC dining charges a la carte, for each item, and does not have the unlimited buffet-style meal plan. The dining hall (McElroy where most freshman and sophomores eat) is set up in the old dining hall style of long communal tables. Still, I haven't heard any complaints (besides the usual that it's expensive and it's not fine dining).

I’m not sure of the definitions of swipes, points, a la carte, but I have a freshman at BC. He starts each semester with preset $ amount ($3000 or so) like a debit card and pays for every item he buys. But, more to the point of this thread, I think, is that the dining hall is a very social place, at least most weekday dinners. The big dining hall is almost exclusively freshman and sophomores and I think it lends itself well with getting together and hanging out a bit after the day’s classes and/or before evening study.

Food is humane. For $90K/yr, it's worth spending a little more on food (if it even costs more!) to make college feel like community.
College shouldn't be teaching young adults how to be sad diabetic loners.

Crappy old dorms with food beat fancy new dorms with sad Chik fil A.

Anonymous wrote:Socializing in a common dining room is important! It’s sad to think that many kids are eating takeout alone. I will be looking at this carefully as we tour colleges. Thanks, OP, for bringing this issue to my attention.

This was something the Ivy League understood.

But it does have its own problems:
Harvard students revolt against revolting mozzarella sticks and fried chicken burgers

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/2/12/huds-menu-updates/

Anonymous wrote:I think all you can eat and buffet style is pretty gross. Are the past posters really old, because this is quite common. I don’t see how the boy could not say, hey want to meet up at 12 and grab chic fil on campus?

Right. Nothing gross about "chic fil [sic]."

Anonymous wrote:I think all you can eat and buffet style is pretty gross. Are the past posters really old, because this is quite common. I don’t see how the boy could not say, hey want to meet up at 12 and grab chic fil on campus?

Eating disorder?

Most college campuses have relatively healthy dining hall food these days.

Having to eat out all the time seems way, way, unhealthier and doesn't make for a great social experience.

Anonymous wrote:These kids don't know how to talk to anyone, eat meals with anyone, or date anyone without their phones. We are so sick.

Um, speak for yourself

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Boston College in the 90s and it was all a points system. It was never an issue. So many people had points leftover at the end of the year that the dining hall (at least McElroy) put out big bags of candy and packs of soda for people to buy because the points don’t carry over. My brother loved getting giant bags of gummy bears from me.

These colleges gave been feeding students for decades. It’ll be fine.

This may shock you to hear, but it's changed. BC dining charges a la carte, for each item, and does not have the unlimited buffet-style meal plan. The dining hall (McElroy where most freshman and sophomores eat) is set up in the old dining hall style of long communal tables. Still, I haven't heard any complaints (besides the usual that it's expensive and it's not fine dining).

I’m not sure of the definitions of swipes, points, a la carte, but I have a freshman at BC. He starts each semester with preset $ amount ($3000 or so) like a debit card and pays for every item he buys. But, more to the point of this thread, I think, is that the dining hall is a very social place, at least most weekday dinners. The big dining hall is almost exclusively freshman and sophomores and I think it lends itself well with getting together and hanging out a bit after the day’s classes and/or before evening study.

Anonymous wrote:None of them are all you can eat!!!

what does this mean? many are unlimited swipes

These kids don't know how to talk to anyone, eat meals with anyone, or date anyone without their phones. We are so sick.

Anonymous wrote:I think all you can eat and buffet style is pretty gross. Are the past posters really old, because this is quite common. I don’t see how the boy could not say, hey want to meet up at 12 and grab chic fil on campus?

lol at buffet style being gross but not chic-fil-a

Socializing in a common dining room is important! It’s sad to think that many kids are eating takeout alone. I will be looking at this carefully as we tour colleges. Thanks, OP, for bringing this issue to my attention.