Dining at the College of New Jersey

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) offers a wide variety of meal plans. Freshman and sophomores are required to have one of the carte blanche plans. There are three of these. Each carte blanche plan gives the student unlimited access to Eickoff Dining Hall as well as a certain number of points that can be used to eat at other locations on campus. The carte blanche C plan, however, only gives the student access to Eickoff during lunch and dinner hours. This is great if you don't have any morning classes, but otherwise could be an inconvenience. Upperclassmen have the option of getting only points on their meal plan rather than getting a carte blanche plan. Many opt for this as it gives them a lot of flexibility in where they choose to eat.

With all the carte blanche plans, students are provided with the option of meal equivalency. This means that between 11:30 and 1:30, if the student chooses to eat at a location other than Eickoff, they get the cost of admission to Eickoff deducted from the cost of their meal elsewhere. Many people use this option to eat in the student center or the library café. The only place that does not accept meal equivalency is the on campus convenience store.

The College of New Jersey offers several dining locations. Eickoff Hall is the main dining hall and offers a buffet style atmosphere. There are dining areas in the basement link between the Travers and Wolfe dorms and in the student center as well.

Eickoff Hall: Main Dining Hall
Eickoff Hall is the only location on campus that accepts carte blanche. It has several food stations which prepare everything from Asian food to nachos and burgers to full meals. During regular meal times Eickoff can be very crowded and the lines often force you to wait quite a while to get food. The seating area is fairly spacious, but does get crowded, especially between 11:30 and 12:30 when almost no classes are running. You are not allowed to take food out of Eickoff and the dining staff tends to strictly enforce this. Many people try to avoid Eickoff as much as possible because the food is not terribly good, the staff is often grumpy, and the general atmosphere can be rather uncomfortable.

Eickoff Hall: 1855 Room
The 1855 Room is set up as a very nice restaurant, waiting staff included. A lot of faculty members go here for lunch, but it tends to be a little outside students' budgets. The 1855 Room does accept points and cash, but not carte blanche.

Student Center: Food Court
The food court is probably the most popular dining location on campus after Eickoff Hall. Food served includes pasta, pizza, and hot and cold sandwiches. Small snacks and other foods are often available. The food court is, like Eickoff, very crowded during the lunch hour. However, you can take food out of the food court, so once you've gotten through the line to pay for your food you can eat anywhere on campus you like. The food court does have a dining area with both booths and tables. There are also benches and couches throughout the student center. The food court accepts points and cash.

Student Center: Rathskeller
The Rathskeller, or the Rat, is open for lunch and dinner. Oftentimes bands or other events are hosted in the Rat, at which times there may be an admission fee just to get in the door. The Rat serves a lot of fast-food style items, very similar to what the food court serves. The Rat also serves alcohol to students over 21. Even for freshmen, this is a fun place to go, hang out, and watch a show.

Student Center: Edith's Place
Edith's place is a small coffee counter in the student center. They take points or cash and serve a variety of coffees, teas, and pastries.

Library Café
The library café is actually an on-campus Starbucks. They take cash or points. There is a very nice seating area in the library café with plenty of tables and comfortable chairs. Food can be taken out of the café, but food is not permitted in the main part of the library.

Armstrong Hall: KinetiCart
The KinetiCart is the newest dining option on campus. It takes cash or points and provides coffee, packaged snacks, and bottled beverages.

TCNJ provides a wide variety of dining locations for students. The campus is small enough that all of them are easy to walk to between classes. With the wide variety of foods available, there is no reason for anyone to be less than satisfied with their options.