By Jacqueline Pollina Special to The Chronicle
I think we can all agree that food is a basic necessity. Why is it, then, that when I look at Hofstra’s exorbitant food prices I am forced to reconsider that idea? Like many other Hofstra students, I am attending college entirely on loans. I love the food at Hofstra; I really do think it’s good quality and that there’s a wide variety. There is just one issue: the prices!
A package of sushi – I’m talking the one without the fish (which is the expensive part) – is upwards of $8 for a few pieces of vegetables wrapped in rice. It’s ridiculous. The sushi place by my house sells rolls with fish for $3.15. The prices are unjust and limit my options. A few pieces of pineapple at the fruit bar are over $3. Salads are overpriced too – I once got a normal sized salad in the Student Center and it rang up as $10. As somebody going to school on loans, these prices surely don’t make the burden any less, but in fact just keep tacking onto it.
The problem isn’t even just the food prices, it’s the meal plans as well! A friend of mine was originally living on campus in the fall, but decided to return home a month into the semester. She was given a refund from the residence department, but her meal plan was not allowed to carry over to the spring semester because she wasn’t getting the same meal plan or a larger one (Why would she if she was commuting now?). Keep in mind she had one of the highest meal plans. She bought lunch for me and my friends often in an attempt to not lose all of her money and ended up surrendering $600. That’s ridiculous.
There was no understanding on the part of the administration for her circumstances and she lost so much money for no reason. What is the point of not allowing her to keep her money? Now she must buy food with money her parents give her despite the fact that $600 has all but vanished.
This situation has led me to believe that the food business at Hofstra is primarily a money-making business with little consideration for us college students with barely any money.
College is a time where we invest financially in our futures. Tuition, given that we attend a private school, is already steep. But really, why must the food prices be three times more than that of a supermarket down the street?
Most resident students do not have cars and cannot access cheaper food or simply do not have time to keep running off campus to find better deals. We are not a money-making business. We should be able to access food – healthy food especially – at normal, market-appropriate prices. I speak for many when I call for lower food prices at Hofstra to lessen the financial burden for us all.
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