Student Soapbox – “Bread and butter economy”

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ecently, Warwick Retail, the University spin-off running Costcutter, the Library Café, etc., announced several price increases. It also announced that you could no longer accumulate more than one discount scheme e.g. pay with Eating@Warwick card and get a stamp on your loyalty card.

By itself, this price increase might seem reasonable. Warwick Retail claims, in fact, that this is their first price increase in three years (ignoring, of course, the recent price increases on plastic cutlery, hot water and the Breakfast Special). But taking this into perspective, it’s clear that students are being priced out of universities, as affordable food, drinks and even accommodation go ‘premium’ – or in plain English, expensive.

The new piazza burger joint charges £5 for a burger, well above the daily food budget for many students. This comes after years of campaigning for a new place to eat on campus. We sure have a new place now, but at prices many of us or our mates can’t possibly afford.

The reasons the University is adopting this commercial strategy is obvious. Expensive food and drink venues please conference organizers and participants, and mature professionals in the growing executive education market. Of course, it’s good we’re catering to these people. But it’s criminal that this comes at the expense of the University’s ‘bread and butter’ constituency – students.

While it is true that many of us at Warwick can and do afford the expensive food and drink, many others cannot and do not. By working, bringing a packed lunch (and sometimes dinner) or just going without eating, they get by. In 2012/2013, you named cost of living as your #1 concern in the Help Us Help You Survey. Meanwhile, the NUS revealed research saying that 50 percent of students regularly worry about not having enough money to meet their basic living expenses. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the worrying research I did to write the Hidden Course Costs policy for the Students’ Union.

The time is ripe for the Union to tackle this issue head on. Let’s have Curiositiea and the Bread Oven compete with the University on price. More students will be able to afford to stay on campus during the day and the Union might even become more profitable as a result.