Alvernia offers students a number of dining options on campus. Whether sitting down with friends for a full meal, grabbing a quick sandwich on the go, or throwing back a fresh fruit smoothie to get through the afternoon, Alvernia students are covered. Explore dining and meal plan options, daily and weekly menus, and nutritional resources.
Student Center Dining Hall
Campus dining is provided in the Student Center. This extensive program offers traditional entrees, grilled items, a deli bar, salad bar, pizza station, and a show cookery station. Breakfast meals include a make-your-own waffle station, breakfast sandwiches, and additional hot and cold items. Lunch and dinner feature hot specialty entrees, vegetables, meats, trends bar, hot grill and cold deli sandwiches, pizza, casseroles, stews, salads, soups, breads, desserts, and beverages. Weekend brunch features a combination of breakfast and lunch specials.
Courtside Café
Located in the PEC, Courtside Café offers a wide variety of items including, a daily menu of hot food, iced coffee, gluten free items, novelty ice cream, assorted frozen entrees, snacks and personal items. Meal exchanges are offered 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Kestral Café
Kestral Café, which is on the first floor of Bernardine Hall, offers Starbucks Coffee and grab-and-go salads and sandwiches. Kestral Café does not accommodate meal exchanges. Courtside Café and Kestral Cafe close their grill, fryer, and oven a half hour prior to closing. All locations accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.
Freshens
Freshens is an amazing new fresh food studio in the PLEX. This brand new concept offers smoothies with 100% clean ingredients, grilled flatbreads, internationally inspired rice bowls, toasted wraps that are crispy, fresh and full of flavor, and salads served in freshly baked crispy crepes. Meal exchanges are offered 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
Dining Hall Meal Plan Info and Policies
All first-year residential students are required to participate in the Unlimited Meal Plan or 14 Meal Plan. Meal swipes and Bonus Dollars do not carry over from semester to semester.
Unlimited Meal Plan
- Unlimited swipes in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room
- $100 Bonus Dollars
- 5 meal exchanges per week*
14 Meal Plan
- 14 meals per week in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room
- $250 Bonus Dollars
- 5 meal exchanges per week*
190 Block Plan
- 190 meal swipes per semester to use any time in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room
- $125 Bonus Bucks
- 4 meal exchanges per week*
150 Block Plan
- 150 meal swipes per semester to use any time in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room
- $200 Bonus Dollars
- 4 meal exchanges per week*
110 Block Plan
- 110 meal swipes per semester to use any time in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room
- $200 Bonus Dollars
- 3 meal exchanges per week*
75 Block Plan
- 75 meal swipes per semester to use any time in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room (this plan does not include meal exchanges)
- $50 Bonus Dollars
75 Block Plan
- 75 meal swipes per semester to use any time in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room (this plan does not include meal exchanges)
- $200 Bonus Dollars
75 Block Plan Reading CollegeTowne
- 75 meal swipes per semester to use any time in our all-you-care-to-eat Student Center Dining Room. Must be a resident at 401 Penn Street - Reading CollegeTowne (this plan does not include meal exchanges)
- $750 Vern Bucks**
*Meal Plan Exchange: Students on a meal plan have the option to use a meal swipe at the Courtside Café or Freshens at the Plex. The amount of exchanges allowed in one week depends on the meal plan. Meal plan exchanges are provided Monday through Friday. They reset on Saturday.
**Vern Bucks: Vern Bucks may be used in all of our dining outlets. When purchasing Vern Bucks, patrons are given a 10% bonus of the dollar amount requested. Students may add Vern Bucks when they deplete their bonus bucks. Vern Bucks do not expire. To add more funds go to the Office of Student Accounts.