Courtnee Cesta
Managing Editor
“Points, please.”
Freshman year, it’s a mindless response at the checkout, but by senior year, it seems like a dagger to college students’ wallets.
Although rising college tuition or dangerous loans may be the big-picture finances on students’ minds, the most direct monetary investment is an everyday necessity: food. And with rising prices (CNN reports that the cost of beef is at an all time high, and the price of other staples such as milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables are climbing), students are forced to either pay more or put less on their plates.
It’s quite evident that food on campus is not cheap. Reasons why a peanut butter and jelly sandwich costs $3.50 or a cup of fruit is $3.95 may seem outrageous, but FSA says that pricing campus food is a science.
Price of a swipe
“Any of the food items we make … all of the stuff that we sell …. every summer, we go through the process and basically start from ground zero,” explained Matthew Snyder, associate executive director and controller of FSA at the State University of New York at Fredonia. “We actually take the menus and recipes for each item, and we re-cost them based on what the current costs are for the ingredients in there. And so, with that, we then look at what the total cost is and then set the prices based on what the most recent costs are.”
Every year, FSA re-evaluates campus food prices based on the cost of the ingredients and the price at which the manufacturer is selling. According to Snyder, recent years’ prices have been greatly affected by the drought in California as well as Citrus Greening Disease. Because of these natural phenomena, quality vegetables, fruits, nuts and oranges are decreasing in quantity and are therefore costing more — the circumstances are also explanation as to why beef prices have soared. Nationwide costs for the meat are hitting $3.88 per pound — up 17% from last year’s average of $3.45.
According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, poultry is also up in 2014, costing 6% more than last year. And with the amount of both beef and poultry that Fredonia uses — especially in chicken fingers, chicken breast, burgers and steak — FSA is understandably forced to either raise prices or take a hit.
Although for some food items, the association is, in fact, losing money at the expense of keeping students happy. Fredonia FSA Executive Director Darin Schulz says that even though the price of vegetables, namely avocados, is through the roof, the price of guacamole at El Diablo Azul is kept modest at $1.
“And actually, it should be an extra $1.75,” Schulz said. “We’re basically eating it on the guac.’ We need to charge more, but we’re not, because then we’d be charging through the roof.”
FSA raised prices at El Diablo Azul $.25 from the 2013-14 school year across the board, except for a steak burrito which was raised $.50. Their ultimate goal, Schulz said, was to keep total costs as close as possible to one meal allowance.
Creative cost-cutting
“It’s in our best interest to keep them as low as possible, because we lose customers if we raise prices,” said Schulz.
Freshmen are required to purchase a meal plan, as are sophomores and juniors living on campus and not in kitchen suites. As students move off campus, it’s natural that they start to cook for themselves and become less dependent on food provided on campus. Sixty percent of juniors at Fredonia have a meal plan of some sort, and figures decrease again for seniors, of which 45% have a meal plan.
Many upperclassmen who live off campus say that’s when they start to realize the high prices of food at Fredonia.
“When I was a freshman and a sophomore, I just got what I wanted and used my meal plan to pay for
everything. I never thought about how much things cost in the c-store because I wasn’t paying real money,” said John Botwanick, a junior English major. “But now that I live off campus and don’t have a meal plan, I have to pay for everything out of pocket and it costs a lot of money.”
As costs of staple foods are increasing, FSA is getting creative with how they price meals in order to keep
expenses low for students. Last year, the association chose to purchase the Centre Point chicken fingers from a different manufacturer that provided a better quality product — a move that both Snyder and Schulz said received an excellent response.
“We used to have the chicken fingers that are all glued together and now it’s whole meat chicken,” said Snyder, to which Schulz reinforced, saying “Everyone loved it — sales of chicken fingers shot up 30% after we improved the quality.”
To account for the higher price of the better chicken fingers and to avoid outrageous costs, FSA decreased the size of an order from four pieces down to three. There is also a smaller option that offers two pieces at an even lower cost. The size of the serving, however, has not affected the popularity of the product — the reason being something that FSA organizers recognize that the current college generation demands: quality.
“I think they were happy that they were so much better, that they were willing to pay for quality,” Schulz said. “If the quality is too low, even though the price is low, people won’t buy them.”
Not your mother’s kitchen
The factors that play into prices of on campus food are all topped by the luxury of quick and easy availability.
“For what we do, it’s convenience. And somebody else is preparing it, and it’s ready to go for you to walk
out the door … we’re also doing it high quality,” Schulz said.
A whole loaf of bread and a full jar of peanut butter may cost a mere $5.00 — just $1.50 more than a single PB&J sandwich from a cafe on campus — but elements such as the packaging, accessibility, quality and service come at a price, too.
“Yes, you can buy a loaf of bread for cheap and you can buy a can of peanut butter for still, relatively cheap, and you can buy a jar of jelly for relatively cheap,” Schulz said. “But again, what we do is convenience. And we’re doing it well.” FSA makes cafe sandwiches with thick, 12 grain bread, which isn’t among the cheaper options on shelves. “Your mom is not here to make you a sandwich, either, but we have people that are.”
For some upperclass students who live off campus, it’s worth paying a higher price for campus food, rather than taking trips to the local Walmart or TOPS Friendly Markets.
“I may not be saving money, but for me it’s the time factor,” said Anna Cercio, a senior public relations major. “I just don’t have time to make breakfast, lunch and dinner at home, so it’s worth spending money and buying a meal plan since everything is right here for me.”
In the end, Schulz spoke on behalf of FSA, saying it’s all about one thing.
“We want to keep the idea of a true ‘Fredonia experience.’ The traditional, residential experience,” said Schulz. “It’s a big goal of our campus.”