[1953] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: [Mit-talk] [UA-SCATR] New Card initiative
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Glasser)
Mon Jul 3 17:27:31 2006
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 17:27:13 -0400
From: "David Glasser" <glasser@mit.edu>
To: Robotica <androidqueen@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <9bde964c0607031356h68703c57oc8303890d043c027@mail.gmail.com>
Cc: reubano@alum.mit.edu, faber@alum.mit.edu,
"Pius A. Uzamere II" <pius@alum.mit.edu>, grace <gkenney@mit.edu>,
Michael Shaw <mshaw@mit.edu>, mit-talk@mit.edu
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
On 7/3/06, Robotica <androidqueen@gmail.com> wrote:
> at the risk of making a lot of enemies, i'd say that this plan does
> not treat students like children. if you pay for your
> TechCash/whatever, you're allowed to do what you want with your money
> (much the way that, as an adult, i like to put my money in different
> places to help me improve my spending habits), and, if your parents
> pay for your TechCash/whatever, then they can specifiy that they only
> want you to buy food with it. if students want to buy things that
> their folks don't want them to buy, they'll have to become somewhat
> financially independant.
I agree that it's reasonable for parents to want to be able to give
their kids some money that should only be spent on food.
On the other hand, food at MIT really is a whole lot more diversified
than at many schools. Students range from eating all their meals at
institute cafeterias to never buying from Campus Dining in their time
there. Giving parents an attractive way to give their students
food-only money (not necessarily a bad thing) turns into giving
parents an attractive way to give their students food-only money *and*
severely constrain their choices in dining. This is not a problem in
schools where the food scene is dominated by university dining anyway,
but that is not the case at MIT right now, and I value that fact.
This is not a hypothetical issue. My ILG has had freshmen who would
love to be on our meal plan and eat most of their meals with us, but
who live in dorms with the mandatory food surcharge and feel like they
have to eat enough there to make their money back. (We've often
compromised and allowed folks in that situation onto our meal plan
without paying, which isn't exactly wonderful for our fiscal health.)
But at least they can use their TechCash for other things and don't
have to feel that it is wasted if they choose to get their food
through venues that neither they nor their parents were aware of when
these choices were made (typically over the summer).
--dave
--
David Glasser | glasser@mit.edu | http://www.davidglasser.net/
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