Listed below are specific items that exempt students from both housing and meal plan obligations. Unless students meet one of these exemptions, they are required to purchase a meal plan.

Students must apply for an exemption in the first month of each semester and must re-apply each semester if approved. Students may obtain an exemption form from the RacerCard Office on the first floor of the Curris Center or download it here(.pdf).

After filing for an exemption, the Food Service director will review the request. Exemptions are rarely granted except for the reasons listed below. Appeals to the director's decision may be addressed to the Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs. The vice president's decision will be final, with no additional appeals.

Freshmen and sophomore students (defined as students who have compiled fewer than 60 hours of college credit) are required to purchase a meal plan for at least four semesters. Exempted from this policy are students whom fit in one of the following categories:

1. Students who have reached their 21st birthday prior to the first day of registration.
2. Veterans of at least two years' active military service.
3. Students who are married and are living with their spouse.
4. Students who commute to school daily from the permanent, legal residence of their parents (within 50 miles).
5. Students who have resided in a university residetial college for four semesters, excluding summers.

All students who come from the incentive grant counties in Alabama, Georgia, and the regional tuition counties of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Tennessee are required to rent a residence hall room not only during their freshman and sophomore years, but also during their junior and senior years if they wish to receive the incentive grant during their upperclass years. Only part-time graduate students are exempt from this housing requirement. Students from Henry, Montgomery, Obion, Stewart, and Weakley counties in Tennessee no longer fall under the incentive grant policy. These students will be treated as in-state students in relation to housing, dining, admission, and tuition policies.