Whether you are staying on campus all day or staying for a couple of hours, the University of Maryland has many convenient food vendors, dining halls and cafés to suit your needs. Two dining halls, two full-service restaurants, nine fast food options in the union, eleven cafes and coffee bars and five Shops @ Maryland (convenience stores) make up the wide range of dining and convenience shopping options at Maryland.

Meal plans
There are resident student meal plans available, however, since most transfer students will not live on campus, we recommend Terrapin Express or an Apartment Meal Plan if you are living nearby campus and will be on campus regularly.

Commuter meal-plan options are available to students who do not live in a residence hall. We call it the Apartment Dining Plan. The plan assumes that you will be eating many of your meals on campus. You can use this plan at 27 locations for food or groceries. There are four levels of the Apartment Plan listed below. Points do not roll over from year to year unless you sign up for a plan for the following academic year. If you do not wish to sign up for a plan in the next academic year, but want your points to roll over, there is a $25.00 service charge. You can sign up at www.dining.umd.edu.

Dining lingo
Terp Express? Dining Points? We’ll try to demystify the terminology for you here.

Terrapin Express
Also know as Terp Express, Terrapin Express is a pre-paid debit account on your student ID card. It is a convenient way for students, faculty and staff to pay for food at 47 dining locations. All you do is present your card at the checkout counter, tell the attendant you are using Terrapin Express and go! Terrapin Express is also used as your print account fund. Simply slide your card at most copy machines across campus and copy away! Terrapin Express rolls over from semester to semester. We highly recommend Terrapin Express to all of our students, but especially those who will be on campus for a shorter period of time each week. To activate your account, you will need to visit the South Campus Dining Hall Contract Office, but after that, you can add money online through Testudo. Visit http://www.dining.umd.edu for more information.
Dining Points
Dining Points are dollar for dollar equivalencies meaning that in the union, dining hall or convenience stores,you can use a dining point as if it were one dollar. The benefit comes in the convenience of being able to use your card and the bill being placed on your bursar bill to be paid in installments if needed, unlike Terrapin Express.

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Please contact the Orientation Office at 301-314-8217 or at askorientation@umd.edu if you have any comments, questions or concerns.