There is a place on campus where old-fashioned ways and traditions are still held.
Where cash has more value than the signature after a swipe.
A place where purchasing pizza and soda on a daily basis won’t be attached to a high interest rate, creating creeping indebtedness.
The Cafeteria at Pierce College has held the same rich values since 1947.
The Cafeteria subconsciously supports the student’s budget through its strict rule of “cash only.”
With the increasing amount of student debt through tuition and book prices, excess debt made by credit card purchases would only put us under even more stress.
According to www.CreditCards.com, the average student credit card interest rate is 18 percent.
How does this relate to the cafeteria and its six-decade policy of cash only?
“The average sale per person in the cafeteria is $4.50,” explained Larry Kraus, Pierce College Enterprise manager.
Get your calculators ready.
The average student attends Pierce three days a week.
That would make 12 days a month, in a four-month semester, equaling 48 cafeteria days per semester.
If credit card machines were available in the cafeteria, the average student would be paying an extra $39 a semester on top of cost of food.
The closest alternative to that would be the use of the cafeteria’s ATM , which costs $1.50 per transaction.
Even if the student were to use the Automated Teller Machine three times a month at $20 withdrawals, it would only end up costing $18 a semester on top of cost of food.
That equals an extra $54 a year in fees.
The last and best case scenario would be going to the bank before school, taking cash out and not paying a penny extra.
In essence, the average patron would save approximately $234 during their two-year stay at Pierce, solely by not having credit card machines at this one cafeteria.
“People look at us like aliens when we don’t accept credit cards,” said Linda Brown, cafeteria manager.
The point is, no matter how much of an inconvenience it is to not have credit card machines in the cafeteria, we are actually being served not only food, but a lesson in financing.
Bon Apetit.