At the start of the Spring semester, the UCC revealed two new dining options: Happy Appy, an appetizer-themed location, and Yella’s, a rendition of an existing burger joint in Hawthorne, NJ. Both locations have been incredibly popular with students, often having hour-long waits during the lunch and dinner rush. Students noticed pretty quickly that the more ‘special’ options on the Yella’s menu came with some unexpected changes. From $4 onion rings to $27 chicken wings at the beginning of the semester, to the subsequent removal of both options, the question arises: What went wrong?
Things have changed radically from the start of the semester to now, most likely due to outrage from the parents Facebook group. The notorious upcharge options from Yella’s are gone, but the opinions from before have lingered. Many parents and students share the opinion that their meal plans, specifically for the first-year students, are rip-offs.
As first-year engineering student Megan Wolters put it, “The upcharge doesn’t make sense, we’re already forced to get Terabyte, and the upcharge is completely manufactured and does not need to be there. […] It’s ridiculous, especially when we’re forced to buy the most expensive meal plan. Charging us more for food we have already paid for is ridiculous.”
This is not an isolated opinion, as multiple members of the parents Facebook group shared the same belief. Caitlin Carbonne, in response to the same controversy, noted “It’s as if they don’t get enough of our money to actually let students use the meal plan. […] All meals should be covered completely under a meal swipe.” Dozens of other parent messages in the group echo that sentiment.
This raises the question of accessibility to food for first-year students on campus. As first-years are required to purchase the largest meal plan, the Terabyte, they pay the most for food of any students on campus. As of 2024, the cost per semester for the Terabyte is $3,850, and comes with 230 GrubHub Dining Dollars, 230 Regular Swipes. After subtracting dining dollars, the cost per meal swipe is $15. If you got a Hamburger, fries, and a Pepsi from Yella’s you would be spending $10.94 in cash or $15 in a meal swipe.
This issue only becomes more obvious when compared to off-campus food. Let’s take the chicken fingers from Yella’s as a prime example, six cafeteria chicken fingers would cost you $17.95, but if you got 40 chicken nuggets from tried and true McDonalds, it would cost you only $12.20.
As first-year computer science student Santiago Yeomans puts it “I don’t think the quality has gone up enough to justify an upcharge.” This seems to be the general student consensus, because despite the popularity of Yella’s, its demand is due to necessity rather than desire. As Wolters put it, “the food is so nasty…after Tu Taco or Piccola Italia I would just feel sick after.”
The administration has acted quickly to attempt to resolve this issue, but there is only so much damage control they can do when the food quality and price issues have existed for years. On January 29, Stevens released an announcement responding to the complaints. Included were a list of changes intended to be implemented immediately, including a partial suspension of upcharges, a menu expansion, and a pledge that wait times would be reduced and quality made more consistent. Stevens also said that the internal practices of Residential and Dining Services would also be amended to improve feedback response and quality control.
As of publication, these changes could not be verified and the student and parent response to the improvements gauged. However, these issues aren’t new and the complaints likely won’t disappear soon; As it turns out, it can be challenging to feed a bunch of hungry 18 year-olds cheaply and effectively.
