With more than 20 dining halls, dozens of restaurants and 40,000 peers, your student will not need to look very hard to find a reason to spend money.
However, with a variety of meal plans and alternative currencies to choose from, it can be daunting to choose which plan best fits your student’s needs.
We have broken down the three primary forms of currency on campus to give you the skinny on how to not break the bank while giving your student the funds.
I-Bucks
I-Bucks, also known as meal points, are the standard currency for all Residential Programs and Services dining options across campus. The University offers four different meal plans that range from 1,020 to 2,260 meal points.
First-year students must buy a meal plan, but they are ineligible to purchase the Mini option unless they are assigned to Willkie Quad.
The amount of I-Bucks in a meal plan is calculated by subtracting the operational costs from the total price. The operational costs are about 60 percent of the total cost of the meal plan.
Although the Plus and Max meal plans are the most expensive options, the plans are the best value because they offer extra meal points.
However, should your student run out of meal points before the semester is done, he or she has the opportunity to add more meal points through the RPS website.
Ani Binishi, a resident assistant at Eigenmann Center, said she believes buying more meal points along the way is more lucrative than the initial large investment.
“Honestly, if you have a standard or a lower meal plan, you can always add points to it. Either way, it would work out fine,” Binishi said. “What I would personally do is I would get the smallest meal plan and add points later.”
Meal points are made available to the student in two installments. At the beginning of the fall semester, students will be given half of the total meal points in their plan to spend. The remaining meal points are given at the beginning of the spring semester.
If some meal points remain unused at the end of the semester, I-Bucks roll over to the following semester.
With I-Bucks, students have the opportunity to purchase items at any dining hall on campus with their student ID.
Meal points can also be used to purchase items in RPS convenience stores, which sell food and basic toiletries. Students also receive a 60 percent discount from the ticketed price of an item.
If your student has a special dietary need, the University also offers a Kosher I-Bucks plan.
CampusAccess
CampusAccess is an option that allows a student to deposit money onto their student ID to make purchases in locations both on and off campus.
The money is on an account that is not connected with any other account a student has with the University.
Money can be voluntarily deposited and spent at the student’s discretion. However, money cannot be withdrawn from the account.
The account can be used at any location displaying the CampusAccess logo.
Funds can also be used at laundry facilities in campus residence halls at a discounted price.
The feature allows the student to make all of their purchases without the hassle of carrying multiple forms of payment. The option makes purchasing easier and safer, Binishi said.
Hoosier Bucks
Hoosier Bucks exists as a hybrid between the options of I-Bucks and CampusAccess.
Like CampusAccess, the currency is an account that the student can voluntarily add to his or her student ID.
The price for a Hoosier Bucks plan is $500, which provides 400 Hoosier Bucks that are each worth about $1.
Twenty percent of the total price of the plan goes toward operational costs.
Like I-Bucks, students receive a 25 percent discount off the ticketed price of an item. However, the currency goes beyond the I-Buck in that it can also be used to purchase food in the IMU and Herman B Wells Library eateries.
The currency is valid up to 18 months after the last purchase of a Hoosier Bucks plan.
If a student has unused Hoosier Bucks and buys a new plan, both the unused and the newly purchased Hoosier Bucks will be valid for the next 18 months.
HOW TO RELOAD YOUR STUDENT’S CARD
Bad news: your student will probably use more money for food than you anticipate. Good news: it’s easy to put more money on his or her card. You’d rather give them money than have them starve, right?
Visit rps.indiana.edu and click the “Online Services” button on the right. From there you’ll be able to add more I-Bucks or change your student’s meal plan with his or her IU username and passphrase. You can also manage your student’s Hoosier Bucks there.
From the “Manage Account” page on cacard.indiana.edu you can make a deposit with a credit or debit card to add more CampusAccess points to your student’s card.
