McMaster University should adopt cost-based pricing for campus food, prioritizing student well-being over profits to make healthy eating accessible for all
Food insecurity has been an ongoing concern in Hamilton for years, affecting various communities within the city, including university students at McMaster.
The rising costs of living have made it increasingly challenging for students to access affordable, nutritious meals. Addressing this issue introduces the idea of selling food at cost, instead of profit. A pricing model that prioritizes affordability, promoting well-being and equitable access.
As a university student, it is not uncommon to find yourself in a rush, with cooking being the last thing on your mind. Grabbing a quick and convenient meal on campus might seem like the perfect solution, until you are met with a big price for a decent meal. The cost of often sub-par meal options on campus leaves students choosing between affordability and hunger.
Grabbing a quick and convenient meal on campus might seem like the perfect solution, until you are met with a big price for a decent meal. The cost of often sub-par meal options on campus leaves students choosing between affordability and hunger.
A 2021 food experience survey conducted among McMaster undergraduates revealed significant levels of food insecurity on campus. The report found that 35.9 per cent of students experienced moderate food insecurity, while 23.2 per cent faced severe food insecurity. Common challenges reported by students included running out of food before having money to buy more, skipping meals due to unaffordability and resorting to low-cost alternatives to manage tight budgets.
McMaster can combat food insecurity among students and set the standard for student well-being. Food should be sold at cost instead of at a profit to increase affordability and promote healthier eating habits across campus.
Relying on student-based initiatives like the Food Collective Centre and Hamilton food banks is simply avoiding the root issue. A cost-based model would provide a more sustainable long-term solution to ensure affordable access to nutrition for students while paying living wages to the hospitality team.
A cost-based model would provide a more sustainable long-term solution to ensure affordable access to nutrition for students while paying living wages to the hospitality team.
A change like this would be monumental for students, contributing to the well-being of the McMaster community. Good nutrition is fundamental for academic success, and ensuring that students ca nourish themselves properly this would allow students to concentrate and manage stress effectively. It could also create an environment of equity where students from systematically challenging backgrounds could have a better living experience as students.
As McMaster continues to dedicate resources to advancing education and research, they should prioritize generating profits from these key areas. A cost-based pricing system for food would instead allow students to focus on their education instead of fuelling their financial stress. This model would not only contribute to our community, but could also enhance the university's overall productivity, its impact as an institute for social progress and the success and wellbeing of its students.
By: Kashyap Patel
The safety and wellbeing of the student population should be the top priority of any respectable university. On Jan. 29, McMaster University chose to prioritize profits over the safety of their students.
Despite heavy snowfall and icy conditions, McMaster remained open because “crews [had] spent the night clearing snow and cleaning walkways.” The university simply advised their students to take care when travelling to campus.
Crews have spent the night clearing snow and cleaning walkways. The University will open for classes this morning and all events and activities will take place as scheduled. Please take care travelling to campus.
— McMaster University (@McMasterU) January 29, 2019
McMaster’s Storm Emergency policy states that the university will be closed “when severe weather poses a danger to students, staff and faculty while on campus or if the weather would prevent large numbers of them from coming to campus or returning safely to their homes.”
For students living on-campus, the inclement weather did not pose as serious of a concern. However, for students and staff who live off-campus and commute, this decision put their safety at risk as roads and pathways leading to the campus were not adequately cleared.
In the opinion of many students on social media, the cancellation of classes should have been deemed a necessity. Students used the closure of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board schools, which are located in the same area as McMaster, to support their views.
Due to the inclement weather, all schools and administrative buildings are closed and transportation is cancelled today, Jan 29. All exams scheduled for today will be written tomorrow, Jan 30.
Enjoy the snow day! ❄️ pic.twitter.com/WpmHYJnFAD
— HWDSB (@HWDSB) January 29, 2019
Many students could not make it to campus due to Go bus cancellations and delays. The university clearly overlooked these legitimate concerns despite the potential negative impacts on students’ academic standings.
This incident begs the question: does McMaster value profits over the safety of its students? Given this instance, I believe the answer is yes. This decision was careless and irresponsible considering that most students attending McMaster either commute or live off-campus. These severe weather conditions also made it impossible for students using accessibility devices to safely reach campus.
Furthermore, many students that braved the conditions and commuted to campus found out that their instructors had cancelled their classes. The lack of coordination between the university and its faculty led to students unnecessarily putting their safety at risk.
Students also pointed out that several walkways on-campus were not cleared even though the university claimed otherwise. McMaster should be more truthful about the statements they disseminate to the public. Students use this information to make decisions about their commute and how they navigate the campus in a safe manner.
https://twitter.com/obeng_lily/status/1090300759802109952
It is difficult to pinpoint what sources of information the university used to inform their decision. The weather forecast predicted a snow storm at approximately 4 p.m. the day prior. The local facilities in Hamilton such as the YMCA and public libraries were also closing for the day. Buses and trains were also delayed or canceled in several locations throughout the southern Ontario area.
McMaster University should take a multi-faceted approach when making weather-related closure decisions. Transportation, safety and the effectiveness of the clearing crew needs to be evaluated before making a decision that can impact the safety of thousands.
Student safety should be of paramount importance to educational institutions. There seems to be a disconnect between McMaster and its students regarding the implementation of the inclement weather policy.
McMaster should re-evaluate the actions it took on Jan. 29 and learn from this incident. Students need to know that their safety is valued and plays a key role in the decision-making processes of their university.
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That the MSU’s finances ended up in the black this year has got to be a relief.
The students union is only a few years removed from deep operating losses. The 2007-08 and 2008-09 financial statements combined for what were then record shortfalls of more than $500,000. That included a campus bar – called Quarters before it underwent an approximately $400,000 facelift to become TwelvEighty in 2009 – that lost a total of almost $780,000.
The following year, the deficit skyrocketed to a loss of $958,190, roughly two-thirds of which was the responsibility of a failing student health insurance plan.
But the 2011-12 audited financial statements, which were passed and made public at the Sept. 30 Student Representative Assembly meeting, showed an issue of another kind. The not-for-profit MSU collected close to a million dollars more in student fees than it spent last year.
What is supposed to be a break-even organization wasn’t intended to make near that amount of money. A $150,000 loss in 2010-11 was budgeted to improve to a modest surplus of just over $120,000 in the year that followed.
“If we’re continuously posting profits, that’s an issue. Obviously, the larger they are, the more of an issue it is,” said Jeff Wyngaarden, Vice-President (Finance) of the MSU.
A few things went right. TwelvEighty cut its losses down to roughly $71,000 from $200,000 the year before. Underground Media & Design boosted its profits by more than a hundred thousand dollars. Losses on MSU services decreased in a few departments, and the health and dental plans went from being budgetary burdens to small sources of extra cash.
“In any one given year, breaking even may not be a good thing. Coming off of four years of substantial losses, posting a profit isn’t a major concern,” said Wyngaarden.
But now that a portion of the losses have been recuperated, there are areas of the budget where student fees are, at least for now, unnecessarily high.
CFMU posted a profit of more than $150,000. The campus radio station receives a set levy via the MSU annually, and has consistently spent well below their allotment in recent years.
The plan, according to Wyngaarden, is to increase spending in order to bring expenditures closer to revenues in the CFMU Fund. An expansion of programming and more emphasis on community outreach are in store.
The MSU has also switched providers for its student health insurance plan. The student fee for the plan now exceeds the actual cost by about ten dollars per student. That money will stockpile into a reserve fund for the time being.
Wyngaarden also hopes to work with the SRA’s finance committee to establish a strategic reserve fund, into which future surpluses would go.
“Right now, when we make money, it just gets put in the bank, more or less, and it sits there for a rainy day. What I’d like to do is earmark that money as a strategic reserve, and that’s mostly putting a name to what we already have,” he said.
“We’d have that set aside, and then set a policy-based plan for making profit if we’ve had a loss in previous year or having a loss if we’ve made a profit in previous years.”
The MSU spent a total of over $12.5 million last year on its operations. Almost half of that amount came from fees charged to full-time undergraduate students.
