Aaron Berkowitz – General Assignment Reporter
The cost of paying for food on campus can really add up, especially for college students who, for the most part, are not working great paying jobs, said Eddie Rodriguez, junior exercise science major.
“I don’t really care about spending the $300 I spend in Food Loot or Hoot Loot on groceries because it has to get spent anyways,” said Rodriguez, “but when I have to pay for something out of pocket I don’t do my shopping on campus.”
The North Market serves as a fast way for students to pick up items they may have missed at the supermarket, said Rodriguez.
He added that he also thinks the food isn’t as affordable as it could be.
“Everything is marked up higher,” said Rodriguez. “I understand they have to get paid, but the some of the things that I buy at ShopRite cost twice as much here.”
North Market’s own Roberta Read, the store manager, said the prices of food that she keeps on the shelves in the store can go up and down, but she has no control over it. She said the price on some items have gone up while the price of others have gone down this semester.
“The price of milk has gone up about five cents and the eggs have gone up four cents,” said Read. “That’s all Chartwells. I’ve told a lot of the students who do ask about the prices that it has a lot to do with not having room. We can’t buy in really big quantities because there’s not enough space to put everything.”
She added that the homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk are the most common purchases made at the store.
Matt Perrotta, Director of retail in the student center, said they do occasionally receive complaints about the food being marked up on campus, but that extra money isn’t going into any one person’s pockets.
“What we make,” said Perotta. “a portion of it goes back to the school, so it’s going back to them in essence.”
He added that he is not sure where exactly that money is dispersed throughout the university.
“We can’t adjust our prices according to the market,” said Perotta. “If the price of food goes up it could be the market. When their prices are going up we can’t just lower ours, that’s why sometimes our prices are even higher. We have to keep our prices in mind just in case something fluctuates. This week tomatoes went from $18 a case to $30 a case, so you can see the prices increase for us as well. The most expensive thing for us here is paying for labor. Paying for the workers.”
Students’ food loot does not roll over to the following academic year, according to Perotta.
Nick Plescia, junior nursing major, said he avoids spending real money at the school as well.
“I think they should lower the prices of their products so that they are the same as the grocery stores’ prices, that way more students will shop there and SCSU can continue to make their profit,” said Plescia.
On Wednesday Nov. 5, President Papazian is holding an open dialogue at 1 p.m. in the ballroom to give students the opportunity to ask questions or voice opinions about topics of interest or concern in the student community.
Photo Credit: Derek Torrellas
