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Cornell University

Cornell Dining

City Bucks DC

Cornell University – Department of Campus Life
Cornell Dining Contract Terms and Conditions: 2025-2026

City Bucks DC

The following terms and conditions apply to all Cornell students participating in the Washington DC Brooks School Program and participating in the City Buck DC debit plan.

These terms and conditions and meal plan information at dining.cornell.edu constitute the Cornell Dining Contract. The Cornell Dining Contract becomes legally binding when you sign the Dining Application. 

Meal Plan Enrollment

You are enrolled in your City Bucks DC plan once you sign and submit the Dining Application. 

City Bucks DC Plan. This plan is limited to students who are participating in the Washington DC Brooks School Program. This declining-balance account, accessed with your Cornell ID card, can be used only to purchase food for you (and you alone) at participating off-campus food service establishments. You may not use your plan for others. 

Persons 21 years of age and older can use City Bucks DC to purchase alcohol. It is the responsibility of merchants to follow all applicable laws regarding the sale of alcohol in Washington DC. City Bucks DC purchases are subject to Washington DC sales tax. 

Deposits to your account can be made online at GET.cbord.com/cornell. City Bucks DC are nontransferable and cannot be used to purchase tobacco products or lottery tickets. All financial disputes involving a City Bucks DC purchase must be addressed to the vendor within two weeks from the date of purchase; the original receipt must be presented. Your account will stay open until you are no longer registered with the Cornell Brooks DC Program.

You will be automatically billed for each deposit. Debit balances are not transferable from the fall semester to the spring semester. Any remaining City Bucks DC balance at the end of the Fall Semester, will get transferred to the student’s City Bucks account prior to the start of the Spring Semester.

Credits

If applicable, credits will be made to your bursar account.

Administrative Fee

A nonrefundable $50 administrative fee is charged once each academic year, upon meal plan enrollment.

Your plan membership card and privileges are nontransferable; you cannot use your plan to obtain food or drink for others.

Change in status

Fall-semester registered students currently enrolled in the City Bucks DC plan who will be attending Cornell Ithaca Campus during the spring semester, can select their housing and meal plan in Housing and Dining Portal

Fall-semester registered students currently enrolled in the City Bucks DC plan who will not be attending Cornell during the spring semester or will be attending a Cornell program away from Ithaca must notify the Dining Contracts Office at https://tdx.cornell.edu/TDClient/169/Portal/Requests/ServiceCatalog by Wednesday, January 1, 2026, of their upcoming change in status to avoid being billed for spring-semester dining charges. 

Contract Cancellations

The deadline for canceling your meal or debit plan for the academic year, if eligible, is Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Exception: Students who enroll in a meal or debit meal plan at the beginning of the spring 2026 semester can cancel through Wednesday, February 4, 2026.

First-year, sophomore, and transfer students may not cancel meal plans.

Students who join and/or move to fraternities or sororities during the spring semester cannot cancel meal plans but are permitted to change to the Supplemental Meal Plan by the stated deadline if the fraternity or sorority qualifies.

Students who move to University Cooperative Housing cannot cancel meal plans, but are permitted to change to a similar or smaller meal or debit meal plan by the stated deadline.

The University may permit you to cancel your Dining Contract under the following circumstances:

  1. If you withdraw or take a voluntary leave of absence from the University during the Term;
  2. If you are granted a medical withdrawal or leave, or an academic internship, graduation or study in absentia during the Term;
  3. If the University determines that there are adequate other grounds for cancellation.

The University retains sole and absolute discretion over all cancellation determinations. You may request a cancellation by submitting a written petition to https://tdx.cornell.edu/TDClient/169/Portal/Requests/ServiceCatalog.

If you are granted a contract cancellation, you must pay for meal plan service used through the date of cancellation or your last usage date, whichever is later.

Contract Adjustments

The University reserves the right to adjust meal plan rates before or during the contract period by action of the Board of Trustees.

Lost Cards

If you lose your Cornell ID card, you must report the loss immediately to the Office of the University Registrar. To protect your membership in meal, debit, and laundry plans, you can flag your card online as lost at GET.cbord.com/cornell. You can continue to use your meal or debit plan by reporting the loss of your ID card to the Campus Life employee who checks cards as you enter a dining unit.

Contract Termination 

The University may terminate your Dining Contract in its sole discretion if:

  1. You fail to comply with the Dining Contract terms and conditions.
  2. You engage in or threaten acts or behavior that in the University’s sole opinion, may endanger public order or property, threaten the personal safety or security of yourself or others (by acts of physical or mental harassment, self-harm, or other means) or disrupt other students.
  3. You allow others to use your meal card, steal food, or otherwise misuse your meal plan privileges.
  4. You refuse an evaluation by Counseling and Psychological Services staff, following your hospitalization for psychiatric reasons.
  5. To respond to unforeseen circumstances or emergencies, including but not limited to epidemics or other public health and safety reasons.
  6. For any other reason that the University, in its sole discretion, deems to be good cause.

If your Dining Contract is terminated under 1-4 above, you will receive no refund of any meal plan charges that have been billed or are scheduled to be billed for the current semester, and you may also face fines and disciplinary action.  Penalties assessed for breach of contract are independent of those that may be imposed by the Office of the Judicial Administrator. The University retains sole and absolute discretion regarding refunds if your Dining Contract is terminated for any other reason.

Meal Plan Options and Debit Meal Plans

All students, who continue their education at Cornell Ithaca Campus and living in on-campus housing are required to enroll in a meal plan. 

Please go to dining.cornell.edu for a complete description of all meal plans and the Terms and Conditions. If you do not have web access, please contact the Cornell Dining Contracts Office at https://tdx.cornell.edu/TDClient/169/Portal/Requests/ServiceCatalog to obtain descriptions of meal plans and pricing information.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Execution of the Cornell Dining Contract is not a commitment of admission to or continued enrollment in Cornell University.
  2. The University assumes no responsibility for failure to perform any terms or conditions of this Dining Contract due to fire, earthquake, flood, act of God, weather events, strikes, work stoppages or other labor disturbances, riots or civil commotions, litigation, war or other acts of any foreign nation, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics, power of governments or governmental agencies or authorities, national emergencies, or any other cause that is beyond the control of the University, regardless whether such a cause is similar or dissimilar to the foregoing examples, and regardless as to whether the subject event or cause was conceivable or foreseeable.
  3. Any waiver by the University of its rights under this Dining Contract shall not be deemed a continuing waiver.
  4. If any provision of this Dining Contract shall be found to be invalid, the remaining provisions hereof shall continue in full force and effect.
  5. This Dining Contract represents the complete agreement between you and the University regarding your meal plan, and supersedes any prior contracts or understandings, whether oral or written.  It may not be amended in any way without the prior written permission of the University in each instance.
  6. The Dining Contract is subject to the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflicts of laws or principles. You agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the federal and state courts in Tompkins County, New York State, for the resolution of any disputes arising under the Dining Contract.