Last week I strolled into Blue Wall hoping I would find the perfect meal to satisfy my mid-day hunger. To my delight, I was able to find this in the form of a very attractive slice of Buffalo chicken pizza. Somehow, in the midst of my admiring the slice, the sign above the glass caught my eye. “Any Two Slices and Fountain Drink – YCMP.” “Two slices!” I thought, “I’ll take it.” So, like a fool, I grabbed a second slice and went to use my $8.75 YCMP swipe. The Buffalo Chicken was great; I have no complaints about that. It was everything else that was the problem. Take a second to think about this one. Two slices of pizza and one drink for $8.75. Now I’m no economist, but that seems a little high. And this gets me thinking, what exactly is the deal with YCMP? Let’s investigate.
There are three offers with YCMP: Commuter, Gold and Platinum. We are going to take a look at Gold because that’s the plan that got me into this pizza-pricing fiasco. Gold offers 100 meal swipes for a seemingly reasonable price of $1,053 per semester. But wait. Is this not the same meal plan that claims to be taking $8.75 for every swipe? If a student swipes one hundred times, he should have spent $875, but that’s not the price of the meal plan. The meal plan costs $1,053. What happened to those other $178? Don’t worry if your head is spinning, mine was too.
Did UMass just pull a fast one on me? I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. YCMP does offer access to dining halls for free on Fridays, and I am grateful for that. Perhaps this can offer us an explanation to where that extra $178 is going. So I did a little more math based on the fact that there are thirteen Fridays in the semester. If I manage to make it to a dining common on all thirteen, which is highly doubtful, I will have eaten $113.75 worth of UMass Dining food, which is still short of that $178. So apparently, Friday night excursions to the dining hall are not anywhere near as free as I thought. And besides, it is Friday, and the temptation to splurge on some take-out is far too great.
All of these issues still revolve around the assumption that I am going to use all of my swipes. Imagine there is one week left in the semester, and I still have 20-something swipes left. I can’t let those go to waste, because the money has already been paid. If I don’t use it, I lose sleep. Now I’ll be buying 40 bags of potato chips and multiple cases of energy drinks just so I can kill off all the swipes I shouldn’t have bought in the first place.
Sad as this all is, there is something that can be done. Pay as little as possible on the meal plan and buy the Commuter plan. Put the money that you have now saved with buying a smaller plan onto UCard Debit. Now you can ask the cashier at Blue Wall to put those two slices and a drink on debit and save some money. Don’t fall for the same tricks I did. Do the math and make the correct decision.
Kurt Coleman can be reached at [email protected].
Daniel • Feb 24, 2012 at 6:27 am
YCMP is only worthwhile if you plan using every swipe for DINNER on the DC. So if you are someone like me who loves Berkshire, get YCMP and use all your swipes for dinner and pay with cash at the Blue Wall.
Also, good article, although leaves out the point I’m making above. In general, however, YCMP is a cash cow for AUX Services.
Dan • Feb 23, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Except for the fact that dinner costs $12.50 and there are more than 13 Fridays if you include finals week- bringing your total to $175 so only $3 extra dollars spent. A fine bit of reporting indeed- yet another Collegian article with factual errors.
Hocker • Feb 23, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Good piece Kurt, this topic needs much more attention to raise awareness around campus. Just a quick comment. Dinner at the DC’s is 12.50 not 8.75 like a swipe at Blue Wall, that adds up to 162.50 for all the Fridays, unfortunately you’re still right, in that, it’s not 178. 🙁 Sadder still is that the SMARTEST plan would not be buy a commuter plan but rather buy no plan at all as you alluded too and save even more.
This brings up the most concerning point of them all though, this whole YCMP business plays upon economic class in society. Let’s do a simple mental experiment. Suppose I have a 1,000 dollars cash at the beginning of the semester, I don’t need the YCMP or the UCard Debit (an even bigger farce, why not use a normal debit card???) and I can pay cash (or debit)…Great! I’ve saved more than a few bucks and I’ve not been forced to spend 8.75 every time I go. But wait…What if I don’t have 1,000 every semester hangin around? (Who does?) Then I’m forced to get YCMP Gold (most likely through Loans) just so I can have the money upfront. Not only have I wasted money on the plan but the plan now costs me well more than 1,053 thanks to the Loan interest.
So in the end those with more money available to them, perhaps of a higher economic class SAVE more money. Where those without, lose more AND are placed into more debt, furthering the wealth divide and hence the class divide in our country upon graduation.
Umass knows they have a captive audience, and it’s exploited….sad.
Taylor • Feb 23, 2012 at 8:08 pm
You make some good points, but only if a person with YCMP only uses his/her swipes at a non-dining hall location. With the YCMP you can either go to a place like Blue Wall and use the $8.75 swipe or you can go to a dining hall.
At the dining halls:
Breakfast $7.50
Lunch $11.00
Dinner $12.50
So the idea of going to the dining halls as well changes everything. Still a complete ripoff though so I completely agree with you on that part.
Owen • Feb 23, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Every student should see this.
Jeremy • Feb 22, 2012 at 10:15 am
Don’t get any YCMP plan! Even the commuter, with it’s 60 meals is $117 over-priced. We SHOULD be saving money, by buying ahead in bulk. Instead, UMass has decided to scam students who haven’t bothered to check the math. Shameful abuse of the customer.
Eli • Feb 22, 2012 at 1:19 am
Kurt, a great piece indeed! Investigative reporting at its finest. We need more of this at the Collegian.