Choices are scarce here on the UBC campus – from housing to food. For many students, campus residences are the only housing options available during the school year. Most do not have the opportunity to find alternative housing given the current state of the housing market as well as the relatively isolated location of the Point Grey campus. In fact, according to CBC, Vancouver’s competitive rental market has effectively coerced students to live on campus or otherwise face expensive rental fees. With no other affordable alternatives to turn to, campus residency seems like the best, if not only, choice available.
For first year students living on residence, their situation is only made more complicated. With the already limited selection of foods to choose from, residents face another obstacle – compulsory meal plans. Jin Zhao’s post regarding the current state of price gouging in UBC’s dining halls perfectly summarizes the issues residents currently face while eating on residence. Unbeknownst to me, as a resident at UBC’s Orchard Commons, $1,500 of the $4,000 fees I am paying for my meal plan is not going to my actual meal. $1,000 of which are going to overhead fees listed on the website as “labour and utilities.”
Given the amount of fees residents pay, one would expect prices for the actual food items to be reasonable or even subsidized. In reality, this is quite the opposite. Jin points out that “from Shumai priced at $1.24 a piece, $7 pastas and $9 fruit cups, it is quite evident that UBC dining halls are overcharging their residents for their meals – a basic necessity for any university resident.” For a profit maximizing organization, this is a great opportunity to capitalize. However, for a public educational institution like UBC, they must be held at a higher standard and ensure a necessity such as food is priced reasonably.
This raises the question – where is our money going towards? Ethical labour wages? Did the $1,000 in overhead fees not cover that? High quality food? This frozen chicken strip packaging found behind the cafeteria suggests otherwise.
Mandatory meal plans should not be an issue by itself, but the lack of transparency regarding how our fees are being managed is simply frustrating and unacceptable. The lack of choices and alternatives available regarding food and housing has collectively allowed vendors and UBC to corner students into paying ridiculous fees and overpriced food with little transparency on the matter.
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http://vancouver.housing.ubc.ca/applications/fees-payments/meal-plan/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-housing-concerns-1.3731760
Anonymous
November 1, 2016 — 11:44 pm
Those food prices are quite common in Vancouver. I plate of sui Mai in West Van it costs at least 5.50$ for 4 peices. So technically, UBC is much cheaper compared to other Chinese restaurant places. 7$ pasta is generally normal in Vancouver ( Only if it’s tasty ). Although 9$ fruit cups are wayyyy overpriced. I could go to Safeway on campus and buy 3 whole pineapple with it. Overhead fee is probably for cafeteria supplies, labor, etc.
If your so worried about your expenses at UBC, I would recommend a meal plan at UBC. You get 5% discount you don’t have to pay the overhead fee.
http://www.food.ubc.ca/meal-plans/
I can agree with you,UBC house rental is ridiculous for the price when comparing to other house rental in Vancouver. You get like 80 sqft of living and a shared bath for 1k while… downtown you get 254 sqft for the same price.