Anyone who has access to a TV has been inundated ever since the Super Bowl with Taco Bell commercials featuring Charles Barkley hawking the fast food giant’s new $5 Box.
“The $5 Box, it rocks, it rocks; it rocks for a meal, with lots and lots,” Sir Charles gleefully proclaims in the ads.
“It rocks for a jock, it rocks for a fox; it rocks blocking shots on guys with dreadlocks.”
Apparently it rocks for everyone, except UH students.
The Taco Bell in the University Center Satellite provides a multitude of food choices, including the aforementioned Box, which costs $5.99.
Conveniently, Satellite Taco Bell refers to it as the NBA Box.
This is just one example of many of the food items on campus that are marked up for the inconvenience of students.
With tuition rates due to rise in the Fall 2010 semester, the inordinate price of textbooks and the cost of gas after driving to and from UH every day, the last thing students should have to deal with are inflated prices for lousy food.
But cost is not the only issue with the available food selection on campus.
There is also a dearth of healthy food alternatives accessible to University students. The only places with somewhat healthy food are the cafeterias in the Moody Towers and Oberholtzer Hall, and not everyone has time to run all the way across campus just to grab a quick bite to eat.
Aside from that, the only choice students have is to take time to drive off campus in search of food.
The UH administration needs to work on improving the dining options and food prices for students so that people who don’t want to pay a premium for a paltry meal have something to eat.
If the University really were looking to improve its national image, showing some concern for the diets of its student body would only be another step in the right direction.
It wouldn’t hurt things for the school to ask Chick-fil-A to start selling its delicious sweet tea on campus, either.
How about someone do a story on the mark-up of c store items on campus? Compare them to the Kroger on Cullen and the HEB on OST. It’s ridiculous.
I agree with Fred. The spiral notebooks I saw there were around five dollars last time I checked. That’s why I went to Wal-mart.