As a country, the United States has faced severe inflation in the last few years. The price increase has directly affected living costs, gas, groceries, and more– Ridgeview’s student snack bar and concession stand. Currently, the effect of inflation has raised snack prices by a dollar from this past year, causing mixed feelings among students school-wide.
The student store manager, Alexis Morales, explains, “A lot of the pricing that I had last year and the year previously, it’s gone up like, $20 for a case of chips, even for the Gatorades.” As the person responsible for ordering items in the four years she’s worked at Ridgeview, Morales noticed a clear jump in snack bar expenses and the snacks she was spending on. While acknowledging that it is unfortunate for student customers, she does have to ensure, “That [the school] [is] actually profiting.” When asked when she decided to install the change, Morales continued, “It was definitely in discussion over [the] summer.”
Andrew Garza, an ASB member and employee of the student store, further elaborates on the situation. When discussing the price differences between last year and today, Garza stated, “So, mostly everything was less than a dollar than it is now.” This means that some formerly ‘affordable’ options to students are no longer their original cost. “The first day we did it, we had a lot of kids confused and questioning if we were being for real because they didn’t believe that there was actually two dollars for a water bottle. They thought that it was outrageous,” he later confessed. While Garza had similar thoughts, he did come to accept the modifications, remarking that, “The price increase doesn’t really change that badly.”
However, for sophomore Mariam Ejbara, a student who used to frequent the store every other day, the change was not something that could be easily brushed over. Despite the snack bar being a vital part of her school routine in the latter half of her freshman year, Ejbara bluntly announced, “I don’t go anymore.” She found that she could no longer make the most of her money, relaying how five dollars had only gotten her a, “pop-tart and a bag of chips.” From her experiences, she also observed, “People buying from other people,” along with people bringing, “something of their own” instead of turning to the student store. Ejbara concluded her perspective, sharing that, “I feel like less people go.”
Although the student population has not reached an overall consensus regarding their opinions on the snack price inflation, Morales is not deterred. She encourages students to show support for the store, addressing various concerns by explaining, “This money that is raised in the student store goes into ASB. So all of the ASB events that are put on to the campus and stuff like that, this is kind of like the general daily funding for those kinds of things.” Morales clarifies, “It’s not like it goes to me or you know…This money goes back to you guys, the students, the campus…” The increase may seem problematic, but it has great benefits for the Ridgeview community as a whole. Other than clearing the confusion as to where the profits go, she also off-handedly notes that Ridgeview is on the “last end of raising our prices,” as other schools have done so one to two years prior.
While inflation is a serious problem, people will always try to make the best of a hard situation. Morales ends her reflection on a high note, welcoming future and returning customers by concluding, “I would say definitely come support the student store…at least you know if you’re spending it here it’s gonna come back someway somehow!”
