We have all heard the expression “you get what you pay for.” Around the United States, hundreds of thousands of students like us are paying nearly $60,000 to attend private colleges. Slightly over two-thirds of that sum can be attributed to core academic purposes, namely tuition and textbooks. According to the University’s “Cost of Attendance” webpage, tuition for the 2012-2013 school year is $43,758, and the annual cost of textbooks is estimated at $1,360, making a total of $45,118. Room and board account for at least $11,258.
While attending class is obviously requisite to furthering one’s education, I question the necessity of joining a meal plan or living on campus. Given the subpar dorms and oft-riddled dining halls, these stipulations appear to be nothing more than overpriced propaganda that should not be mandatory components of students’ budgets.
In high school we frequently heard about the two main aspects of college life: the scholastic and social facets. Though it is certainly believable that living together in unfamiliar dormitories and sharing tables at dining halls can foster camaraderie, these are not the only ways to form close friendships. Students, even first-years, can live off campus and easily make friends through classes or dine jointly elsewhere.
If students do not wish to live in the dormitories or subscribe to overpriced meal plans, they should not be forced to do so. Most institutions of higher education espouse liberty and freedom of choice. With respect to character, colleges encourage students to shape their own personalities and define their own sets of ideals. Regarding something more mundane such as coursework, we are often told to take what interests us and to be architects of our own education. Should we desire to participate in certain clubs, nonprofits or Greek organizations, we bear the discretion to make those choices. Then why should we be forced to purchase a meal plan or live in a dorm? Some might advocate the sensibility of these requirements due to the social externalities previously described. But given the other degrees of independence we are encouraged to exercise at college, social engineering through stipulated boarding requirements makes no sense.
College tuition bears a substantial financial burden on students, whether they are paying $60,000 outright or taking on loans to cover the cost. Thus, we ought to have a stronger say regarding what we are purchasing. Dedicating $11,000 to $13,000 for nine months’ worth of dingy accommodations and food everyone loves to hate is not an expense to celebrate.
This phenomenon is not unique to Brown. Only a handful of universities seem to benefit from laudable culinary and residential amenities. If college-sponsored room and board costs seem unavoidable, consider the alternatives. An average dormitory’s academic-year cost roughly translates to $800 to $900 per month — assume annual rates of $7,000 to $8,000 for most college dorms. Many students rent apartments off-campus for that sum, and the majority actually find accommodations for less than that monthly allotment. In Providence most off-campus rooms rent for $700 to $800 per month. Even if a person seeks more luxurious living quarters for twice or three times that amount, determining where and how much money to dedicate toward living costs should be a personal choice. University boards should decide neither our addresses nor our budgets.
The same argument can be made for food. At the Sharpe Refectory, for instance, someone not enrolled on the meal plan must pay $9.60 for breakfast, $12.50 for lunch and $14.70 for dinner For these amounts, people can easily satiate their hunger at Au Bon Pain, Chipotle, Andreas or Paragon. We can examine the comprehensive $4,284 Flex plan, which furnishes 500 Flex points, 460 meals and 10 guest meals per year. If one Flex point equals $1, subtract $500 — which very generously assumes perfect liquidity — from the overall price to yield $3,784. Dividing this sum by the 470 meals allotted over the course of a year produces an average cost of $8.05 for each meal. This is no bargain either, given the options one has on Thayer Street and the quality of food one encounters at college dining halls. Furthermore, if we relax the assumption that one eats three full meals a day, the average cost of meals actually consumed at the dining halls is significantly higher. Dedicating a few thousand dollars to food is perfectly acceptable, but the choices to which we are “privileged” do not warrant their price tags.
College is expensive, and we should be able to better determine where our money goes. If we are adults allowed to choose our classes, careers and interests, we should be able to select our living and dining arrangements. This is especially true when we are compelled to pay for “amenities” whose qualities are constantly ridiculed.
Elizabeth Fuerbacher ’14 believes in the value of a dollar and prefers spending money herself rather than having it spent for her. She can be reached at elizabeth_fuerbacher@brown.edu.
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