UGA On-Campus Food Options
At UGA there are a variety of dining and grocery options available to the students. These include paid and free options.
PAID OPTIONS
- UGA Meal Plan & Dining Commons: UGA provides access to its dining halls through meal plans that vary in levels of access to provide for students’ needs. These levels include both five-day and seven-day as well as customizable block scheduling.
- Campus Restaurants: Restaurants on campus offer a variety of convenient and usually healthy options. As well as a small selection of grocery options at the various campus markets. These establishments accept both Paw Points and Bulldog Bucks.
- Paw Points: UGA dining services have attempted to add flexibility to pay for food on campus by introducing Paw points. The points can be added to your meal plan and can be used at on-campus dining locations.
- Bulldog Bucks: Bulldog bucks work in a fashion similar to a debit card. They also work on on-campus dining resources but unlike pawpoints can also be used off-campus.
FREE OPTIONS
- UGA Food Pantry: UGA has established a food pantry in the Tate student center that provides students with extra options free of expense. In order to visit the pantry, you will first need to register with PantrySoft. Once your account is created, you can visit anytime during the pantry’s regular hours and can also order online! Walk-ins are welcome, but you’ll need to register when you get there.
Food Scholarships and Assistance
In addition to these food options, there are a number of food assistance programs and scholarships that are available to students.
- Let the Big Dawg Dawgs Eat is a scholarship available to UGA students struggling with food insecurity. Eligible students have unlimited access to UGA dining halls seven days a week. However, students must apply in advance. The scholarship also accepts donations, which help to keep this important fund available to those who need it.
- Georgia SNAP Program: Students can be eligible for the Georgia Snap program if they meet the criteria.
Transportation
UGA Transportation
- UGA Transit provides access to all on-campus resources, however, students have raised concerns over the limited transportation to grocery stores available to students without cars.
- The UGA Mobile App is the official mobile app for the University of Georgia, where students, staff, faculty, and visitors can find campus resources and learn more about the University.
- The app allows users to track buses on and off-campus, learn about the dining facilities, login into various academic resources, check parking deck occupancy, and so much more!
- UGA Ride Smart is a discounted ride share program with Lyft. Students need to activate their membership for this to work. The program runs from 10 pm to 6 am, seven days a week. This program only applies to rides only Athens-Clarke County. Additionally, the ride must either come from or end within the designated service area. There is a limit of four rides per month.
Athens-Clarke County Transit
Bus fare is free to all Athens residents until June 2022.
Notable Routes for UGA Students
- Route 1
- This route takes you around campus. This means it is accessible to the dining halls of UGA. There is also a stop at the UGA Arch, so it is an easy and accessible route for meals Downtown.
- This route also reaches a little bit off of Downtown Athens. There is a bus stop near a grocery store called the Supermarket El Camino Real that caters to the Latin American community. There is also the restaurant Los Plebes del Taco which has a bus stop nearby.
- Route 14
- This route goes around the UGA campus, and it leads to the grocery stores Fooks Foods and Achachi.
- Route 20
- This route is on Atlanta Highway. It leads to many grocery stores including Target, ALDI, and Walmart Neighborhood Market.
- Route 23 – No longer in service.
Survey for UGA students
In order to create a more comprehensive food resource bank for students, we are collecting data about Athens food resources from UGA students. Our survey hopes to provide us with information on where UGA students feel there needs to be greater accessibility to food, as well as where they currently get their food.
If you would like to see our survey results, please email Thomas Rutledge at thomas.rutledge@uga.edu to request our data.
Grocery Store Rating Based on Survey
