[2039] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: [Mit-talk] [UA-SCATR] New Card initiative
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jared Showalter)
Sat Jul 8 05:57:09 2006
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 02:54:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jared Showalter <jareds@alum.mit.edu>
To: mit-talk@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <20060708051043.ya52zg5gkhcsk0cg@webmail.mit.edu>
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
On Sat, 8 Jul 2006, Jessica H Lowell wrote:
> I have to say, I was amused by this quote from the Tech:
>
> "Asked whether he thinks the Dining Dollars plan primarily addresses the
> concerns of parents or students, Berlin said ?I don?t know.?"
>
> And this one was rather telling:
>
> "Berlin said that feedback from the parents of prospective students,
> particularly from Campus Preview Weekend, was one of the main factors behind
> the decision to create a food-only account. He cited confusion about the
> TechCASH program from many parents as well as a concern that students
> might not
> have enough money for food after purchasing books and other necessities
> because
> they do not know how to manage a budget."
>
> I'm genuinely curious; has any current or former student on this list ever run
> out of food money because they spent too much TechCash on non-food? Or known
> anyone who did?
This an imbecilic way of addressing that concern. One of my roommates
freshman year (fall 1999) ran out of money on his MIT Card, and it was
clear from his side of the conversation that his parents thought he was
spending too much money. However, it certainly wasn't because of spending
money on non-food. At that time, I believe that other than campus dining
you could only spend card money on a few random things like laundry in
some dorms. He ran out of money because eating all your meals at campus
dining was very expensive.
The correct way to address the concern, which doesn't require any change
on MIT's part, is to observe that such parents can put money in the
account on a monthly or even weekly basis, rather than a semester basis,
depending on the level of confidence the parents have in their child's
ability to function as an adult.
Jared
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