Writer: Emma MacIsaac
Inflation. Everyone is aware of it, and it impacts everyone. From housing, transportation, childcare and food prices, the cost of living is spiraling out of control. This price increase is drastically impacting students who struggle to balance enormous costs with minimal finances and low-paying jobs. There is a generational miscommunication as to what the new normal is and how we have begun to deal with it.
I spoke to my dad last week and he asked me to guess the price of a small carton of grapes he had purchased. As someone who is at the grocery store regularly, I made a rough estimate of around $12. He was shocked that I managed to get the number exactly right. Where he is annoyed with the price increase, I’ve simply accepted overpriced food as the new norm. This was a really startling realization for me; realizing that I had reluctantly accepted that $12 grapes were to be expected.
Although the rising cost of food is an annoyance to many, it is a crisis to others. While the minimum wage is increasing, it is disproportionate to the rising costs in the lives of students. Students are forced to cut corners in order to afford to survive.
Many students at McGill University have spoken out about struggling with “exorbitant” food prices and have commented that they cannot afford to eat 3 meals a day. When living in residence many universities have mandatory meal plans or work on a declining balance dollar system. I’ve been very lucky that my university does not charge on the basis of individual meals, but I know many others around the province have not been afforded that luxury.
With the costs of food, housing, and transportion rising, the unfortunate reality is that students are forced to cut corners somewhere. For many, the cost cut is food. Students who are struggling financially are placing their own basic needs lower in order to attain an education, something that is critical in today’s society to obtain decently paying jobs. This creates an unhealthy relationship with food that can follow students into adulthood and can result in new or worsening eating disorders.
Is there a solution? It’s hard to say. Inflation is a reality we are forced to live with, and it can feel impossible to counter. Although there is only so much control we have over the price of groceries, we can fight for more manageable food prices across campus. Accounts such as @lets.eat.mcgill are spreading awareness about the unreasonable prices, comparing the school’s prices with that of local grocery stores. The markup rate is absurd, with some items being over double their original price.
Shopping at the grocery store would be simpler, but most students living on residence are required to spend money on a mandatory meal plan. Students find that given the markup, they cannot afford to have three meals a day without having to pay more out of pocket. At McGill, it is mandatory for students to pay a significant amount of money for a meal plan with a declining balance card that can only be spent on food. The problem comes when the prices are marked up so significantly, forcing students to spend money on overpriced food since the meal plan is mandatory. This system takes away students’ control over their own eating habits and makes an unfair profit off of a mandatory requirement from the school. Behavior like this is unacceptable, especially with the increasing costs of residence and tuition.
We live in a society where in order to live a comfortable life, higher education is necessary. This creates an environment for students to be taken advantage of, forced to go thousands of dollars into debt, being constantly overcharged and overlooked. The frustration will only continue to grow until the issue is addressed. We have the power to make change if we make our voices heard. Profiting off of the basic needs of the students in your care is exploitative and wrong. Raising awareness and connecting with others will help make us stronger and allow us to work towards ending food insecurity.
