Food fight
If Syracuse University students think they’re paying a lot for meal plans now, they might not like what’s ahead.
With rising food costs and an economic recession, chances are, students will pay more to dine on campus in the future, said David George, director of SU Food Services.
‘Each year (the rates) are incremented based on various factors,’ George said. ‘It’s not just the cost of the food. It’s the folks that work for us; their benefits, the major maintenance.’
Food Services is currently evaluating these aspects and other expenses, including fuel, utilities, the transportation of food, upkeep of old dining facilities and installation of new ones, like Ernie Davis Hall, to determine the costs for next year. But George said there are no confirmed numbers on how the costs could increase.
While SU uses money from the meal plans only to fund food operations, George said the fees of tuition, room and meal plans are evaluated and increased together each year.
For the 2008-2009 school year, students pay between $8 and $15 per meal, depending on which plan they have.
Graduate student Chris Almonte said he thinks he’s already overpaying for the dining hall food and that an increase in prices would force him to reevaluate his finances.
‘College students are typically short on cash to begin with,’ said Almonte, a broadcast journalism major. ‘I’ve got a budget that’s pretty strict, and if prices go up, I kind of have to rework all my math … I really don’t have the time to be doing that, and I certainly don’t have the money to spend anywhere else.’
What are students getting out of these rates? George said they’re benefiting from having a registered dietitian on staff, a diverse range of foods in the vegetarian and general entrée sections, extended hours of operation in Shaw and national brands such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Sbarro.
He said Food Services constantly receives suggestions from customers and is determining what’s offered on the menu through the feedback. Almonte highlighted this aspect from a personal experience.
‘Some of the breakfast stuff, I didn’t like what they had,’ Almonte said. ‘I asked them if they could get something a little different, and they actually went out of their way to go get me what I wanted.’
In addition to communicating with students, George said Food Services stays in touch with SU’s surrounding areas by comparing the prices of competitors twice a year to make sure costs on campus are at the same rate or lower.
Yet, when compared to nearby Cornell University, Syracuse’s meal plan fees are considerably higher. Cornell’s most expensive meal plan, according to its Web site, allows for unlimited access to the dining halls and is only $12 more than the cheapest meal plan SU freshmen living on campus can purchase, amounting to 14 meals per week.
Cornell also has a system called City Bucks, in which any student with a meal plan can purchase alcohol, food and groceries at certain off-campus sites with a student ID card. George said SU doesn’t have this option because of restrictions in the state.
‘I don’t think (Cornell) can do that in New York state,’ George said. ‘We can’t really take our SUpercard (off campus), because the way the New York state tax laws work outside of the facilities here.’
However, a Cornell food services representative said the university is allowed to use City Bucks, because anything purchased off campus with the account is taxed.
Regardless of the bonuses and lower fees of other universities, some students said they still think SU’s meal plan options and food prices are reasonable.
‘(They) could be lower, but it’s been pretty good for me so far with three meals,’ said Tia Lomax, a freshman biology major with the deluxe meal plan. ‘I might change, but I’m pretty comfortable with it now.’
Junior Brad Turner said he’s also content with the cost of the meal plan and that he doesn’t worry much about the fees affecting his outside life on campus.
‘I haven’t really seen any kind of comparison with how much people would pay generally outside of the meal plan, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me,’ said Turner, an international relations major. ‘My parents pay for the meal plan, and if I want to go out and eat somewhere else just as a treat to myself, I do it.’
Increased food prices actually may be hurting students without meal plans, at a health level, more than those with the plans, said Lynn Brann, an assistant professor in Nutrition and Hospitality Management. Brann said students without meal plans may tend to consume more food items that could be less nutritious because of the cost of convenience.
She also said there are ways to stay healthy in the declining economy. She said it comes down to the students being willing to spend extra time to prepare nutritious foods.
‘You don’t always have to go for the cheaper, less healthy options,’ Brann said. ‘In some aspects the economy is impacting what people buy, but a lot of it has to do with the types of choices people make when it comes down to their dollars.’
A change in the type of food being purchased is not only affecting off-campus students, but also on-campus students with meal plans. As food service officials feel the crunch of rising food prices, they’re finding their own ways to make up for the deficits.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported earlier this year that Ohio University saved almost $100,000 by making food from scratch instead of using more expensive, pre-made products. Western Washington University also attempted to save money by removing trays from the dining facilities, resulting in a 34 percent decrease of waste, according to The Chronicle.
Like SU, The Chronicle reported many schools, such as Louisiana State University, Clemson University and the University of Miami, intended to raise the fees of meal plans to manage with continuing expenditures.
What remains to be seen now at Food Services is what other proposals it has, in addition to changing meal prices, to make up for its rising expenses.
‘We’re looking at different things for what we’re doing,’ George said. ‘Right now, we’re planning on Ernie Davis Hall, and that factors into pricing and what we’re doing as far as the (meal) plan goes.’
George would not directly comment on whether the dining center in Haven Hall would be closed next year with the opening of Ernie Davis’s dining hall two blocks away.
But the one question George did foreshadow an answer to was whether students could expect to be dig deeper into their pockets to pay for dining services next fall.
‘Based on what’s going on in the marketplace today, I would say yes.’
Published on December 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm
