Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[scrdest]

I just got an email,

I just got an email,

I just got an email,

I wonder who it's fro-

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dear Students at Appalachian State University,

The N.C. General Assembly made significant changes to the Sales and Use Tax Code during its 2013 General Session.  One of the changes will have an impact on how much students pay for meals at universities in North Carolina.

Previously, students at institutions of higher learning in North Carolina were exempt from paying sales tax when they purchased food on campus.  However, the N.C. General Assembly repealed this sales tax exemption during its recent General Session. The repeal is effective January 1, 2014.

The repeal of this sales tax exemption means that Appalachian must increase the cost of its meal plan options in order to have the funds available to pay the sales tax.

The sales tax required will be 6.75%.  Sales tax will be reflected in the billing for Meal Plan Options for the upcoming spring semester.  This billing will take place in November 2013.  The table below indicates the change in meal plan option prices with the addition of state sales tax.

Meal Option
   

Price per Semester

Low Option
   

$895 previous plan without sales tax.

$955 with state sales tax added.

Standard Option
   

$1,120 previous plan without sales tax.

$1,195 with state sales tax added.

High Option
   

$1,295 previous plan without sales tax.

$1,385 with state sales tax added.

Super Option
   

$1,580 previous plan without sales tax.

$1,685 with state sales tax added.

Sales tax on all food purchases will charged at the point of sale.  For purchases made using a meal plan, this means that sales tax will be subtracted from the student’s meal plan account at each purchase.

Any increase in cost is unwelcome news, but we want you to have this information as you budget for spring semester.

ಠ_ಠ

That's it. Before I hated the Republican Party on an ideological basis. Now it's personal.

Why does it seem, at least on Bay12, that every single university in every single other country has, or at least had, a discount on students' meals? I have to cook or eat out (well, technically, there are two cafeterias on the campus, but they're run by an independent company/-ies that happened to rent the space from the university).

[Flying Dice]

Who knows. It's an ingrained part of the U.S. university system and, flaws aside, not really a terrible one--I pay ~$750 per semester for as many meals at the cafeteria as I want, plus $75 credit at the various campus eateries--I could maybe get by on less if I bought and made nothing but food with a very low cost-to-nutrition ratio, but that would necessitate having a kitchen, kitchen implements, and enough time to cook meals. I'd be tempted to just call it misfortune of birth, because I'm given to understand that it's the standard pretty much everywhere, and for good reason. Students who are spending time budgeting, shopping, and cooking are students who have less time to study (or, in the vast majority of cases, to get wasted and make poor decisions).

[Frumple]

I don't remember the one I went to having anything in particular along those lines. They had a fairly decent price/quantity/quality mixture (decent food in large-ish amounts for a pretty reasonable price), but it was still considerably (2-3x multiplier per meal) more expensive to eat there, compared to cooking. Was a fair bit cheaper (Somewhere between 1.5 and 3 bucks per meal for a comparative amount) compared to other eat-out places, but not gratuitously so.

For MSH's plan, 900 bucks over a semester is... probably an easy (which is to say, underestimating) $2-400 overpriced compared to home cooking, even if you're stuck using a microwave (more than $100-120 or so per month is pushing it for a single individual, in my experience). At least if NC college town prices are in line with north florida college town prices. But that sixty buck bump on the low end is at least 3, 3 1/2 weeks worth of food in and of itself.

That one's for the gipper, I guess. Gotta' keep them darn college kids from voting somehow. Make sure they're too broke paying for food to afford the gas to reach the voting booths.

Students who are spending time budgeting, shopping, and cooking are students who have less time to study (or, in the vast majority of cases, to get wasted and make poor decisions).

You only really have to do the first one once, the second one once or twice a month, and the last one usually takes barely more (if not outright less, especially on the net if you cook for a few days at the time) time than transit to food. It's effort (and will) more than time investment, really.

Kitchen access is a bigger issue, but... you can do a lot with a microwave if you know how to roll it, and probably take the time before you hit college (or during some down time, between semesters or whatever) to do some testing with local materials to see what works best. Sure, it probably took a few months before I found rice that did alright nuked (and figured out how to cook it that way and it turn out alright), but if I had actually got down to the brass tacks and did a solid sampling of local grocery offers it would have taken a day or two on the outside. Just as an example, heh.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, that's the thing. I'd rather pay a bit more for the convenience of not having to cook rice and lentils with a kettle and thermos. 

[Frumple]

Yeah... that was kinda' my incentive. "A bit more" was, like. 2-300% per meal. In absolute terms "only" something like 3-4 bucks, but that starts adding up really, really quick

[Flying Dice]

The biggest issue for me is not having a kitchen. I could rent an apartment, but that'd mean losing my housing scholarship, which would far outweigh the money saved on food. That aside, I'm willing to pay more if it means that I can, at any time between 8AM and 8PM, walk in and get food. S'not traditional cafeteria fare, either. I mean, they have a line with that sort of stuff, but some of it is decent. More importantly, there's a deli sandwich bar, a fresh salad bar, fresh fruit, and cooked in-house omelettes (with real eggs, to boot) and stir fry every day, no additional charge. On top of that, you can get a takeout box once a day.


On the other hand, they also (with justification) have to post "No Shirt No Shoes No Service" signage.

[Dutchling]

You don't have a kitchen? How does that even work. Do you get paid to live where you live now or what?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

You don't have a kitchen? How does that even work. Do you get paid to live where you live now or what?

Most American dorms either lack a kitchen or, at most, have one kitchen for the entire building.

[Frumple]

You don't have a kitchen? How does that even work. Do you get paid to live where you live now or what?

Most dorms I've heard of have a communal one at the best. The most the ones I've actually been in only had a microwave for the individual rooms; no stove access at all.* You also couldn't (or, at least, couldn't be caught) have anything in the room with an open heating element, which further limited things.

As for how it works. It works by the college shoving a food plan down its students throats**, eating out, and microwaves (/the limited amount of other cooking stuff that didn't involve a fine if you were caught with it in your room).

*One actually had a limited access, so to speak, communal kitchen. For the entire (200+ room building, iirc) dorm. Actual access was discontinued fairly early in the semester because the kitchen basically got fucked up. Or something. I'unno, I nuked everything. After a point using the communal kitchen for cooking was prefaced with "will fine your ass if you try". Something along those lines.
**Sometimes almost literally -- I've seen more than one case where it was mandatory for freshmen. Let it be known there would have been words if I hadn't been transferring in with an AA, and that bullshit would not have stood if they wanted my tuition and room money.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, my dorm gives you a sink, that's it. You can bring your own microwave, hah. Like I said, I've got an electric kettle (which is apparently mysterious witchcraft here in the 'states), so if I was really feeling driven I could possibly cook very simple meals here if I modified it into a pot, but the hassle isn't worth it. The point I was getting at is that I could live cheaper on my own cooking if: I wanted to spend more money renting an apartment (which would amount to ~1k more per semester assuming identical costs between the cheapest dorm on campus and student apartments); and if I wanted to cut my diet to stuff that I could prepare in batch lots that I could eat on over the course of a week.

[Tellemurius]

No one complained about my rice cooker and that can easily turn into a stewpot and other things

[alway]

At RIT, the freshman dorms typically had 1 or 2 microwaves & sinks in a communal lounge per floor of 40 or so students. Unless you were on a floor with morons who constantly set off the fire alarms. From what I recall, one of the floors of a nearby building had their microwaves removed after setting off the fire alarms like once a week for the entire first quarter. And you aren't even allowed to have your own in your room, since the dorms would probably all burn down in the first week due to people who can't figure out EZ-mac.

Upper level housing is much better, as it shifts from monolithic, 14 story dorms to typical small apartments. And with that, they can more readily accept the added fire risk of a full kitchen in a 4 person apartment space. And because by their fourth year, most people have figured out the mysteries of EZ-mac cooking.


... And I now have another ear infection. Damnit. And here I thought I was done with those, almost 2 years since my last one.

[Tellemurius]

engineers ≠ microwave

[MetalSlimeHunt]

More like electrical engineering undergrads + microwave = catastrophe.

[Thecard]

engineers ≠ microwave

Yes, I'll try to remember not to put popcorn kernels into into engineers.