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Our Perspective: My cash does not equal your points
Written By Teresa Dickert for the Executive Staff
Opinion Editor
Discussions regarding campus dining at Carroll tend to be as heated (pardon the pun) as other no-no topics in social situations, such politics and religion. Everyone has an opinion, and as a student, one may have heard the same thoughts and ideas rehashed since day one at Carroll. So, at risk of preaching to the choir, this is our perspective.
Without having the details on how many students are signed up on each plan, one should not take this next statement too seriously, but it seems through current brochures on the food plan there is an active attempt to mislead us students into wasting even more cash than we have to. We have a feeling that many students are on the minimum plan required, plan two, which also appears to be the most expensive in dollars per point. With a brochure that just explains cost and a description of who the plan is suited to, it leaves out one important detail that we used to determine dollars per point: the points one receives for the listed price. Is this done intentionally to mislead us students? We think so.
It seems that Sodexho does not mind informing us of how the point system works after we pay the price for our plan. In fact, in speaking with General Manager of Food Service John Yatzo, he expressed that he is in the process of getting out more information pieces on how the point system and food plan works with help from Director of Auxiliary Services Gary Koenen and Director of Campus Services Rick Jessen.
Use the dollars per point figures above to figure out the cost of your food sometime, we have a feeling one may experience delayed sticker-shock after that. Here is a quick example from one of our lunches this afternoon at the sandwich bar:
1 RSTBEEF SAND 5.73
1 BAR BROWNIE 1.83
70.00% 5.29-
PTS DISC
After compiling this data one can see that these two items would cost $7.56 cash or 2.27 points (post the amazingly charitable 70 percent discount). Translating this back into cash students on plan one paid $6.26, students on plan two paid $7.83, students on plan three paid $6.17, students on plan four paid $5.63, and students on plan five paid $4.81 for his/her two item lunch. Notice that students on plan two paid more than those paying cash, and this is for items that do receive the discount. Not included in this example is the milk Chug that was actually consumed. Just imagine paying 0.70 in points rather than 70 cents in cash. Our friends on plan two paid a whopping $2.42 for the ability to chug that Chug. This is wrong.
Still, when we asked Mr. Yatzo about prices, he replied that students pay only, "slightly over wholesale" on items such as Sobe and other items sans discount. Yes, one is better off purchasing fountain drinks, Yatzo concurred, but the other items are available for the variety in an effort to please us all. What would really please us all? An easier to understand point system with fewer charges hidden from our immediate view! We do not want to carry a calculator around in our pockets (many of us have long since completed our math classes), and we doubt our fellow students want to either. Stop ripping the students off!
The good news in all of this is that we are not alone in our desperation, well, not entirely. President Frank Falcone, in his State of the College Address, replied to a question asked of him in regards to food prices and the high cost versus a student’s low budget; "... if I had to eat in a dorm, I wouldn’t like it either." This, however, is unlikely to give students any pull in their attempts to attain lower fixed prices on campus food plans, but in our fight we can use all the help we can get!
Feel as outraged as we are? The Student Senate and Sodexho are willing to listen, so speak up! In the meantime, however, perhaps it is best we keep our calculator nearby or our pocketbook full of hard cash. Besides, Sodexho has been dealing with students using the same system since they began in 1993. One simply cannot expect change to occur so quickly.
The nitty, gritty details of the food plans
Plan 1 / Commuter Plan
$770 per semester
279 points per semester
$2.76 per point*
Plan 2
$1,055 per semester
306 points per semester
$3.45 per point*
Plan 3
$1,185 per semester
436 points per semester
$2.72 per point*
Plan 4
$1,255 per semester
506 points per semester
$2.48 per point*
Plan 5
$1,420 per semester
671 points per semester
$2.12 per point*
*Rounded to the nearest penny.
