Use it or lose it

   Though it may seem implausible, for some students, the end of the school year often prompts a spending frenzy.

   In attempts to clear all excess munch money from their food service account before it is deleted on Saturday, some students are scrambling to spend, and spend fast.

   But between spending obligatory munch money on a $6-quart of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at USI’s Convenience Store or offering to buy meals for friends, getting rid of remaining munch money can be a tough process, said sophomore Amanda Yochum.

   “My roommate just spent $70 at the Convenience Store last night,” she said.

   As a freshman, Yochum learned that it is difficult to budget munch money without prior experience.

   As a result, coffee mugs purchased at Starbuck’s with munch money took the form of Christmas presents, and when she would eat at the Loft, many of her friends would eat for free.

   No, she wasn’t playing Santa Claus, she was attempting to lower her munch money account to zero.

   “And at the end of year, I was pretty much buying people’s breakfast daily,” she said.

   Sophomore Katie Meth said she also under budgeted her money as a freshman, and once the final weeks of the school rolled around, she was left with option of spending the money fast or losing it.

   In light of the two options, Meth said the solution is simple: munch money should carry over into the following school year.

   “I mean, you pay for it.  I don’t think you have to spend it (in a year’s time),” she said.

   Currently, the excess munch money does not carry over into the next school year, but goes into the general operating fund for food services and is prospectively budgeted for the next year, said Chris Briggs, director of food services.

   Each year, food services appropriates about 1 percent of all munch money at the end of the year, an overall figure Briggs said is usually “pretty high.”

   Briggs said of the 2,394 students — a 20 percent increase from last year — who have munch money accounts, most of those accounts currently sit at zero or only contain a few dollars.

   Over the past few weeks, Briggs said cashiers have informed students who have large amounts of munch money on their accounts in advance.

   “Some of the comments we get really just blow us away.  Some students will say, ‘Well, my mom and dad pay for it, so I really don’t care,’” he said.

   But despite the indifference of few, Briggs said students are spending more munch money this year than in the past, and the only accounts with large sums of money belong to students who have dropped out of school.

   “We don’t want the money to drop, we want them to spend it,” he said.

   Currently, Briggs said only 1.28 percent of all munch money remains unspent, which is the first year he’s seen such a low figure.

    “This year is the best I’ve seen. It works out better for everybody this way,” he said. “If a students goes to school here, and they drop 100 bucks, they’re probably not going to have another plan with food services. We don’t want that.  We want them to pick up another plan the following year.”

   Briggs estimates that food services will only appropriate half of one percent of all munch money this year.