Shoshana Bachrach, an SCW senior from Pittsburgh, lingered outside the MMY Oneg that took place in Stern several weeks ago for longer than might be expected, especially considering that she didn’t even go to MMY. Her motivation? Free pizza. Like many other Stern students, Shoshana is running low on her caf card funds, and so extracurricular events which serve free food offer a welcome alternative to meals in the caf. As opposed to previous semesters when Shoshana had enough extra money on her caf card to bring home snacks for her family, she reports that this semester she is “literally skipping meals.”
Shoshana’s story is emblematic of the growing impression in Stern that students are running out of their caf funds earlier than usual. Many have attributed the apparent trend to price increases in the caf. Bruce Jacobs, the Director of Dining Services at Yeshiva University, recently spoke to the Observer to dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding the caf card and caf prices this semester.
For one thing, Dining Services recently ran the numbers and discovered that only 10% of the student body had a caf card balance below the suggested amount for that point in the semester. 40% were “exactly where they should be” and 50% actually had even more than the suggested amount.
Students should keep in mind that that balance which flashes on the register when they purchase an item in the caf does not include their restaurant money. Also, if students so desire, they can contact Food Services to convert their flex money into caf money.
As for price increases in the caf, Jacobs points out that only a few items are more expensive this semester. One of those items, though, is the ever-popular salad bar, which went up about ten cents per pound since last semester. Jacobs explains that the increase was due both to market costs as well as to the expansion of the salad bar, specifically the 245 salad bar, which now occupies two counters instead of just one and includes not just the “basics” (greens, tomatoes, etc.), but, at the request of the student body, also features different kinds of cheeses throughout the day and different types of meat at dinner. Because both the cheeses and the meats are high-cost items, their inclusion in the salad bar contributed significantly to the change in price, a consequence students may not have realized when they asked for those items to be added. (Another, albeit far less popular, item to go up in price is the hot dogs served at dinner in the 245 caf.)
If there is one thing that Jacobs would like students to understand about dining services it is that Yeshiva University offers one of the cheapest meal plans in the United States. This year, YU’s dining plan cost $1700 per semester and $3400 annually, with $500 of those funds available to be used off-campus at participating restaurants, such as Mendy’s, Eden Wok, and Tiberias. By contrast, Columbia University’s 2011 meal plan was about $2500 per semester and $5000 annually, with a 10% additional charge for the kosher plan. If Columbia students want flex dollars to use off-campus, they need to put additional money on their cards themselves. It is important to note, though, that Columbia’s dining program does offer three other cheaper meal plans, including one which is less than $1000 per term. However, as might be expected, the cheaper options do cover fewer meals.
Jacobs insists that unlike at other universities where dining services are profit-makers, YU dining services just wants to break even, something which has never actually happened in its history. With the cost not just of food, but also of labor, utilities, waste, paper goods, and Mashgichim, the amount students pay does not cover the cost of the operation and the University has been subsidizing food services every year. Says Jacobs, “we’re struggling to break even because the university is trying to hold costs down for students.”
What, then, is the solution for students running out of money? “It comes down to the students themselves and how they manage their money,” Jacobs contends. “If you have x amount of water in the desert, some people are going to drink their water in two days. Some will drink a pint a day and make it across the desert.”
Continues Jacobs, “it’s a learning experience for students to learn how to manage money. Students need to follow the chart and say to themselves, ‘it’s looking a little tight right now; therefore, I won’t buy 10 bags of potato chips today.’ ”
Asked whether he believes students are able to make it through the semester with both the current prices in the caf and the amount of money they have to spend, Jacobs answers with an emphatic “150% yes. There is no doubt in my mind.”
Jacobs suggests that the 10% of students below the recommended balance may be mostly freshmen, who are away from home for the first time and not yet accustomed to budgeting their caf money. The fact that this year’s incoming student body had one of the largest percentages of true freshmen would seem to substantiate Jacobs’s theory.
Another demographic likely to belong to the 10%-in-the-red-zone is Stern’s sizeable out-of-town contingent. Unlike in-towners who often go home on Thursday night and come back on Sunday night or Monday morning bearing leftovers, out-of-towners need to pay an extra $15 or $25 to stay in for Shabbos, in addition to paying for two Friday meals and three Sunday meals. Also, students with dietary restrictions or even just more nutritious eating habits may find it harder to make it through the semester than students who fill up on the more cost-effective, but less nutritious options, such as pizza snaps and French fries.
So what, ultimately, can be made of the sense, shared by much of the student body, that caf money is disappearing at an alarmingly faster rate than usual? Are Stern students hungrier this year? Is it a consequence of higher salad bar prices? Has the addition of salad dressings to the salad bar made students more inclined to buy the now more expensive salads? And, finally, for students without sufficient funds, is the solution more financial responsibility, lower prices in the caf, or standing by the register looking morose until someone offers to sponsor your dinner?