Yes, Penn State Campus Dining offers healthy and affordable food choices.

All dining halls offer “all you care to eat” stations with a range of healthy choices. Meal plan prices are affordable and available to students, faculty, and staff. Penn State faculty and staff are eligible to participate in an on-campus meal plan for discounted meals at dining locations across the commonwealth, effective 2 February 2023.

The Student Farm operates a Feed the People market at the student union every autumn, a pay-what-you-can vegetable market.

The Live On nutrition site provides information about dietician tips and about the Pawsitive Choice program that is designed to help eaters find the better, healthier, “Pawsitive” choice (referencing the Penn State mascot, the Nittany Lion).

The Student Affairs Healthy Eating and Nutrition page offers a number of resources to help students achieve healthy eating habits and maintain proper nutrition including free one-to-one nutrition counseling with registered dietitians and support services.

Residential Dining participated in University Wellness Days by offering special menu features and programming including “fuel for thought” menu items, virtual chef demonstrations featuring local products from the Penn State Student Farm to promote sustainable dining and living, and menu options feature local ingredients such as Pennsylvania mushrooms.

The Registered Dietitian’s Office, which provides nutrition education and support for Campus Dining operations at all Penn State campuses that offer on-campus self-operated dining, provides menu item cards featuring an allergen icon identification system. The menu item cards provide a Legend with icons that depict Gluten Friendly – made w/o gluten-containing items, Halal Friendly, Meatless, Contains Pork, and Vegan.

Campus Dining’s menu website features special diet indicators (meatless, vegan, contains pork, halal friendly, gluten friendly), as well as full menus, allergen information, calorie content and other nutritional information.

For students facing food insecurity or food shortages, Penn State has several systems in place to ensure they can eat affordably and healthily. These include:

  • Lion’s Pantry: All Penn State campuses have food pantries on campus or in the community which operate as programs to address student food insecurity and hunger. They provide free food and operate similarly to a satellite of a food bank location, with food in the shelf that can be obtained. Most campuses offer either food pantries, food distribution services, and/or campus community gardens.
  • SNAP benefits program: SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, a federal program funding by the federal Farm Bill. College students may be eligible for expanded SNAP eligibility if they qualify for a work-study work program (even if not participating in a work-study job).  is for  and have an expected family contribution of $0 on their federal student aid determination form completed for the university.
  • Student Emergency Fund: Provides short-term financial assistance to students who are struggling with debilitating financial circumstances of an unforeseen nature.
  • Students at all Penn State residential campuses can participate in a “Swipe Out Hunger” program on campus. Students can donate any amount of dining dollars in $5 increments when purchasing a meal at any dining commons on their campus or through a Penn State Eats mobile order. All donations support the Student Emergency Fund in the form of emergency dining dollars. The Student Emergency Fund directly supports students at every campus location facing food insecurity, as well as additional needs including housing insecurity, homelessness and unexpected emergencies.

 

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.