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Board and Cash Flex Information

On Campus Dining

Most of the residence halls require students to purchase a meal plan. Each of the three meal plans have a fixed amount of Board Flex associated with them, which you may use to purchase food at the Bon Appetit venues (Cleveland Commons or at the Grab ‘n Go locations in Jewett and Reid) by tapping your ID card at the cash register.

If you have a meal plan, but run out of board flex before the end of the semester, you may purchase Cash Flex in increments of $50; this purchase is charged to your student account, payable by the end of the following month. See below for full instructions on purchasing cash flex.

If you live off campus, but want to eat in the Bon Appetit food venues, using cash flex will save you Washington State sales tax on your food purchases.

All students, regardless of where they live, may charge Bon Appetit purchases directly to their student account, including sales tax. If you did this in error, and would rather have used your flex, please contact Student Accounts to correct the transaction.

How to Purchase Cash Flex

Students can order cash flex online at my.Whitman, logging on with their username and password. This site is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Log in, click on the “Student Tools” tab in the blue, left-side menu, then "Add Flex Dollars." When students order cash flex in increments of $50 on this website, the cost will post as a charge to their student account, creating or increasing the balance-due accordingly (unless there is a credit balance/overpayment on the account that covers the purchase). If the order creates a balance-due on the student account, the student will receive an email at the beginning of the following month, reminding them to pay the balance.

  • After ordering the flex online, it will activate to the student's Whitman ID card within a few hours. Then they simply tell the Bon Appetit cashiers to "use my flex" when they tap their ID card, or select "Meal Plan Flex Dollars" when they use their phone's mobile app (just as they did previously with their Meal Plan board flex).
  • Flex dollar purchases are not charged Washington State sales tax (over 9%), as are food purchases that are simply charged to the student account, or paid for with a debit/credit card.
  • The new cash flex total will not show on the cash register displays until all of the board flex (the flex associated with a Meal Plan) is gone. It is, however, displayed on "View Balances" at  my.Whitman.edu.
  • Although flex dollars purchased in Fall semester may be used in Spring semester, they do not roll over the summer, so be cautious about the amount you order, starting in May.

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