Every single day, schools serve lunches to 28.6 million students. 19 million are free and 1.1 million are reduced price, leaving 8.5 million students having to pay for lunch.
At Spring Lake, lunch is free. Yet many of the other options available, such as chips, drinks, and cookies, cost money and are overpriced.
If you purchase one small bag of pretzels, it costs around $2.00. In many average grocery stores, a bag of pretzels costs the same, and it’s family size. This goes with most chip options as well. Freshman Anna Mastenbrook says, “When I pass by the cafeteria before school, I always go in to get a snack. If I get one little thing, it costs me way too much!”
Sometimes, students don’t just purchase extra snacks and get an extra charge. They buy other beverages as well. The only free drink Spring Lake offers is milk, normal, or chocolate. Neither option is lactose-free, which can be a problem for many students. If a student is thirsty at lunch plus lactose-free, why should buying a bottle of water cost $1.50?
As many students go through the lunch line, popular meals, such as pizza, are taken. Students are allowed one piece of pizza to count for the free lunch. Many students, such as athletes, need way more than one piece of pizza to fill them throughout the rest of the school day and sports practice afterward. To buy another piece of pizza or meal, it costs $3.00. This charge can be quite a lot if you look at what you’re getting.
Overall, school lunches and options should be cheaper. If schools want their students and athletes to succeed, they should give them the fuel they need to do so with no worry about how much money is left in their lunch account.
