Is it permissible to use meal vouchers given by colleagues instead of handing them over to the administration when absent from the university city?

If the university stipulates that the student must return the coupons for the days he will be absent, and these coupons do not have an independent price but are part of the housing rent, this means that the food provided is a permission to benefit from it and not an ownership. Therefore, the student is not allowed to give it to others; rather, he should eat it himself or leave it.

However, if the student pays an independent price for the coupons, and is not required to return them upon absence, then this is ownership, and he is allowed to benefit from it himself or give it to others.

The difference between permission (ibahah) and ownership (tamleek) is that permission means owning the right to benefit only, without owning the object itself. Thus, the recipient does not own the right to dispose of it by selling or gifting. Whereas ownership means owning the object completely, allowing disposal of it as one wishes.