Grad Tips: Affordable Lunches on Campus
July 25, 2024
By Katya Hrichak
As a graduate student, you have a lot to learn. Scholarship and research aside, there are many facets of the graduate school experience that are important to your success but might not be obvious or easy to figure out. Between achieving a sense of well-being, attending to basic needs, maintaining relationships or caring for others, etc., there’s a lot to keep track of.
The Graduate School is here to help. With the Grad Tips series, we’ll be providing insight into different aspects of the graduate student experience, sharing tips and advice on how to get the most out of your time at Cornell. To vote on the next topic in the series, check for a poll in upcoming issues of the Graduate School newsletter, News and Events.
This week’s topic: Affordable lunches on campus
Cornell’s Ithaca campus offers many dining options. Cafés, coffeehouses, convenience stores, dining rooms, food courts, and food trucks all provide options for feeding hungry students. With all of those options readily available, choosing something that will satisfy your appetite—and fit your budget—can prove to be quite a task.
Where can I get lunch on campus?
Cornell Dining has a handy tool for finding open eateries and cafés, and if you share your location, you can see a list in order of distance from you. Dining rooms are located all over campus, and all locations welcome all diners, even dining facilities located in residential buildings. Cornell has two convenience stores, with Bear Necessities on north campus and Jansen’s Market on west campus.
The Terrace and Trillium, both food courts, and Franny’s Food Truck and the seasonally available Cornell Dairy Hot Dog Cart are all located on central campus.
What is most affordable?
While affordability depends in large part on what your definition of affordable is and how often you buy lunch on campus, we’ve put together a list of our findings from least expensive to most expensive. Please note that while we aimed to be thorough in our research, this list is not exhaustive.
Under $5: Baked goods and basic breakfast sandwiches
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Large soup and a dinner roll from Terrace Bagels at Bus Stop Bagels cost $1.99 with toppings ranging from $0.50-$1.79.
- An all-beef hot dog at the Cornell Dairy Hot Dog Cart costs $3.77.
- A half sandwich at Goldie’s Café costs $4.99.
- Baked goods at Mann Café cost $1.99-$2.99.
- Smaller portions of soup across campus can generally be purchased for $5.
- Many basic breakfast sandwiches at locations across campus start at $3.99 and can be purchased for $5 or less.
- Bear Necessities Grill and Convenience Store sells mini pizzas starting at $4.99.
Under $7: Soups, breakfast sandwiches, and other small eats
- Breakfast sandwiches at Bus Stop Bagels start at $6.99.
- A tofu “not dog” at the Hot Dog Cart costs $5.40, and toppings for all hot dogs range from an additional $0.27-$0.92, which can bring the price of one all-beef hot dog to $6.05 or a tofu “not dog” to $6.59 when toppings are added.
- Nachos with cheese at the Hot Dog Cart cost $5.40 and up to $5.67 with the addition of chili.
- Larger portions of soup range from $4.70 to $5.29, although adding an optional dinner roll can raise the price further.
- Mini pizzas at the Bear Necessities Grill and Convenience Store cost up to $6.99 and chicken sandwiches cost $6.49.
- Mann Café has a few sandwiches on the menu that are less than $7.
$7-$10: Sandwiches, wraps, burgers, chicken, salads, and other medium portions
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Large salad and dinner roll from Terrace Some of Bus Stop Bagels fancier sandwiches exceed $7.
- Bear Necessities Grill and Convenience Store offers calzones, burgers, chicken, subs and clubs, and boneless wings in sizes that fall into this range.
- Both freshly made and grab-and-go sandwiches, paninis, and wraps across campus eateries cost $5.49 at the low end but can range to $10 and above depending on contents and location.
- At Goldie’s, you can buy a half sandwich with a small soup for $9.49.
- Martha’s Café offers naan wraps and salad bowls for $9.49 to $9.99.
- Mattin’s Café sells wings for $8.99 and quesadillas for $7.99 to $8.99.
- Temple of Zeus offers some soup sizes in this range with an optional, add-on roll for an extra $1.
- At Terrace, $7 will buy a yogurt parfait and $8 will buy an order of chicken tenders.
$10 and above: Dining room access, food court station offerings, and customized options
- Dining rooms charge a flat rate at the door, and for the 2023-24 academic year, the price was $15.05 including tax for lunch Monday through Saturday.
- One entrée with two sides from the singing wok station at Trillium is around $12 with tax.
- At Terrace, a burrito, burrito bowl, or nachos can be purchased for $10.65 to $12.65; some sandwiches are available for up to $12.95; and salads range from $10.65 to $16.65.
- Build-your-own bowls run up to $10.99 at Martha’s Café, and at the Atrium Café they range from $11.49 to $13.98.
Curious about what the cost is going to be in advance? Some dining locations are available on GET Order, where you can place an order in advance or simply look up the prices for the items you’re looking for before you commit to walking across campus to purchase lunch.
Where can I get the greatest value?
Value depends largely on what you’re looking for, including how much you like to eat for lunch or how much food it takes for you to feel full. We asked a few Cornell Dining employees about what they see as their menus’ greatest values.
The yogurt parfait offered at the Terrace is the best value item, according to one employee we spoke to, who noted that it’s a substantial amount sure to fill you up.
Mattin’s Café in Duffield Hall offers a few combos, like the 16 ounce coffee with a muffin for $4.27 or with a bagel for $4.63. The best value item on the menu is the quesadilla with three toppings for $8.99, said staff member Courtney Snover.
Outside Day Hall, Nate Davis at the Hot Dog Cart said that the cart’s best value meal is two hot dogs, chips, and a beverage for $9.72, including tax.
At Goldie’s Café in the Physical Sciences Building, staff member Daniel Galindo shared that the small soup and half sandwich combo is the best value at $9.49, especially considering that some of the full sandwiches are priced at over $10, bringing their cost down more than 50% in the combo.
What are some recommendations?
At the Atrium Café in Sage Hall, the most popular item on the menu is the crunch noodle chicken wrap, said cook Gene Stephenson, with nods of agreement from his coworkers behind the counter. The best-selling sandwiches at Goldie’s Café are the French dip, BLT, and chicken panini, said Galindo.
Several of you shared your top picks as well. For Amlan Nayak, a doctoral student in computational biology, sesame chicken and veggies from the singing wok station in Trillium is a personal favorite, while mathematics doctoral student Chaitanya Tappu opts for the black bean quesadilla at Trillium, recommending the vegan chili soup too if you’re extra hungry. Claire Sleigh, a master’s student in industrial and labor relations, is fond of the portobello panini at the Big Red Barn.
How else can I make lunch on campus more affordable?
Graduate students are eligible for all of Cornell’s traditional meal plans as well as the special Graduate Student Meal Plan. This meal plan is open to graduate and professional students only, and costs $50 per semester for $50 in Big Red Bucks with no administrative fee. Students on this plan get a 5% discount on food purchases at the Big Red Barn, Bear Necessities, and College of Veterinary Medicine Café. If you frequent any of these three locations, the 5% discount could add up and save you some money.
Both Tappu and development studies doctoral student Mike Bishop shared that their top tip for keeping lunch most affordable is bringing food from home.
“I bring my lunch from home to campus, either leftovers or a frozen meal I warm up,” said Bishop.
“Do meal prep and bring your own lunch,” recommended Tappu. “Your department’s lounge/grad lounge is the best place to have lunch.”
Ella Wilkinson, a nutritional sciences undergraduate and barista at Temple of Zeus, recommended students going this route make use of Anabel’s Grocery. Anabel’s is open to any student at Cornell and offers groceries at or below prices found at local grocery stores.
If packing lunch isn’t feasible for you but you want more options, some chains and local restaurants deliver to campus. Delivery charges will vary, but a few locations offer minimal fees.
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