The University of Kentucky offers a variety of choices to students. The choices range from a number of dining options, residence halls, and athletic facilities to student organizations, religious groups, Greek-letter organizations, and intramural competitions/campus recreation.

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There are also two convenience stores, located at Blazer Dining and at The 90.

The meal plans for on-campus students no longer utilize a declining-balance system, similar to a debit card. In 2005, a new "all care to eat" plan was initiated to the disfavor of 84.9% of the student body.^[2] The cheapest meal plan for on-campus students is $949 per semester, extending upward to $2,013 per semester. These plans also include $300 in "flex dollars" which can be used at all on campus dining locations, convenience stores, and also Starbucks.

Students can also use their Plus Account to eat at a few select off-campus restaurants, such as McDonald's or Fazoli's.

The construction of The 90 was completed in 2015 by a design team which included Aramark, RossTarrant Architects^[3] (Architect of Record & Lead Project Manager) and Tipton Associates (dining services designer). The 82,000 square foot facility features seating for 1,000, including bar, family, traditional, active, indoor and outdoor seating, as well as student support spaces such as meeting spaces and technology-rich collaborative learning classrooms.

The university provides several facilities for unwinding from the daily campus grind. The Johnson Center, a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m²) two-story structure located at South Campus, features basketball, volleyball, badminton, racketball, and wallyball courts, along with weight-lifting facilities, and rock climbing walls. It is also the home for some group fitness classes utilizing a large aerobics studio.

The Lancaster Aquatic Center, located next to the Johnson Center, opened in 1989 and features 10 lanes for lap swimming and has shallow space for other water activities.

The Seaton Center, now part of the Johnson Center, features facilities for basketball, volleyball, badminton, jogging, squash, table tennis, and racquetball.

In 2018, the north campus' first recreational facility in decades, Alumni Gym Fitness Center, opened as part of the Student Center expansion and renovation project. The facility is a major renovation of the historic Alumni Gymnasium, which had been home to UK men's basketball from 1924 to 1950.

The university has had issues with safety on campus. In a survey of 1000 female university students, conducted in spring 2004, 36.5% reported having been victims of rape, stalking, or physical assault while at the campus.^[4][5] While campus law enforcement statistics do not match the survey results, campus officials have taken steps to increase safety.^[6]

In response to the survey, University President Lee T. Todd, Jr. launched an initiative in September 2005 titled the Campus Safety Imperative, which included a quadrupling of annual expenditures on safety.^[7] Todd specifically linked campus safety to the goal of becoming a top-20 public research institution, stating that "We will never make gains toward becoming a top-20 public research institution if our students are unsafe or if they lack a sense of physical security. It is part of our fundamental mission, then, to create a campus that provides a safe place to live, to work, and to learn."^[5]