Commentary by Eli Hogan, Contributor
For fiscal year 2014, Kennesaw State University, according to its own university fact book, had an operating budget of $344.18 million. This is $10.01 million more than 2013.
Also new to KSU, besides a $10 million addition to the budget, was the revocation of the ability to use the mandatory meal plan at any campus eatery other than the commons. Up until this year, the meal plan could be used at both Delancey’s New York Deli and the Hoot. Starting Fall 2014, the university put an end to this.
KSU did not make up for the change by extending the commons’ operating hours. Instead, they were perfectly content to force students to pay for their meal plan and then force them to make a difficult choice- after the commons closes during the day, should they spend money they don’t really have on food or should they just wait until the morning when they can eat relatively cheaply per swipe at the commons?
KSU students are already on shaky financial ground. The three-year default rate on student loans is 10 percent. The national default average is only 9 percent, and it is only this high because for profit schools with astronomically high rates artificially inflate the numbers. KSU has 10,000 students using the Pell Grant, which is reserved for the neediest students. We are not Harvard or Duke. Our financial aid packages are limited, and most of us do not come from affluent homes.
We can’t afford this. The cost of attendance at this university is $25,000 per year. We are already breaking under the massive fees imposed to pay for the new recreation center and football team, among other things On campus housing is a near necessity due to the cumulative idiocy of the KSU city planners over the years. Tuition is high and gets higher every year. HOPE scholarship payments were cut when the Zell Miller scholarship was established. The least the university can do if they’re going to force us to buy their meal plan is allow us to use it where we like. Failing that, they should keep the commons open later so there is a place to eat at night. Many of us work, some of us have athletic practices. We have to eat late, there is no other option. When you mandate the purchase of an item, it is immoral not to give the purchaser a fair chance to use it.
As the proud owners of a nearly $350 million budget, can the university really not afford to bring back swipes to the various eateries where they are no longer accepted? Or is the move just one more way to squeeze a little bit more money out of the student body?
We have news for you, KSU: we are the stereotypical hungry students. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. There’s no more money to be had, it’s all gone to the parking fees for decks that never have open spots. It’s gone to athletic fees for a basketball team that consistently ranks near the bottom of the 351 Division I basketball teams. It’s gone to pay for a football team that we would love to see, but sadly will be barred from doing so because there are soon to be 30,000 students and a stadium with a capacity of only 8,000. It’s gone to the “global learning fee” to pay for study abroad trips that most of us can’t even come close to affording. Banning swipes after 8 p.m. is really not a massive deal in the grand scheme of things. It is nothing more than the straw that broke the camel’s back. It is the perfect example of the university putting dollars over people. It is shameful.
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This article should not have been published for three reasons:
1. The $25,000 cost-of-attendance figure is very misleading. Only 3,000 students, the number of on-campus residential students can claim this figure as their cost of attendance. By not living on campus, the cost of attendance, ignoring the sunk costs of housing (which you would have to pay for regardless of your attendance) and transportation (assuming that you would be travelling the same distance to work each day) — the cost of attending Kennesaw State University is closer to $13,592 per annum (This figure is calculated by taking the Federal Shopping List ‘Cost of Attendance Value’, less housing/meal plan figure, add $2,000 [$450 for the Upper Class Requirement] for the Freshmen meal requirement, add $160 for parking). This price is much more accurate for the average student than the $25,000 cost cited by the author.
2. You argue that the school has ‘skimped’ on students by closing the commons at 8 PM. I do hope that you are not a business major of any sort. There is not enough foot traffic at 8 PM to justify utilizing twelve to fifteen individuals who are paid a minimum of $7.25 an hour, plus keeping a manager who exacts much more than $7.25.
3. You state “As the proud owners of a nearly $350 million budget, can the university really not afford to bring back swipes to the various eateries where they are no longer accepted?”. Utilizing swipes at the eateries last year were actually a detriment to the average student and I applaud the University in adopting the policy they currently utilize. I initially had the same impression that you had — that I was receiving less and paying more money for the privilege. That is highly incorrect.
You must recall that swipes entitle you to as much food as you can stuff your gills with. The Freshman average meal swipe cost is $9.42 (This is found by taking the cost of the meal plan, deducting the ‘Dining Dollars’, and dividing by 115 swipes). If I recall correctly (and I do, I have late classes right on top of one another that deny me a dinner at the Commons) the combo at the Boar’s Head was as follows: One half of a roast beef sandwich, soda, chips. The half sandwich costs $5.70, the bag of chips costs $1.50, and the soda has a retail value of $1.50. This totals to $8.70 per swipe utilized at the Boar’s Head.
Why would you redeem your meal swipes at a 7% discount? By purchasing a mere half sub, a bag of potato chips, and a soda — you would have thrown away 72 cents. Buying nothing but subs with your swipes would have resulted in wasting $82.80 per semester.
The Dining Dollars are much more useful than the meal swipes for two reasons: they trade at face value, 1 Dining Dollar = 1 US Dollar AND the dining dollars are not subject to sales tax allowing you to purchase your sandwich at a six percent discount over traditional payment methods (cash, credit card).
So there you have it.