There's nothing better than experiencing campus life. You just can't beat it, or that's what UB hopes we believe. Suckering families out of money, brainwashing local students to live on campus for the experience. Of course, there is the whole freedom issue, the thought of having parties and visitors overnight without your parents even being aware. But you have to deal with the campus food.
Ugh.
I live in Governors and transferred from Buffalo State. I didn't dorm while at Buffalo State because the space was more limited over there. I chose to live on campus here to have freedom and a place to call my own. I have no problems except for the food issue. Last semester my parents paid for $595 worth of dining dollars and at the end of the semester, I had over $300 left. I chose not to sign up for a meal plan this semester and to just cook for myself when I can.
One of the big problems is the hours of operations for the places on campus. I would mainly eat at Bert's in Talbert Hall for lunch and have to starve until 7 p.m. when The Cellar would open. I surely wasn't eating at the dining hall; I'd rather starve than touch most of that stuff. The only good thing about that place is the variety.
Who eats lunch and then waits until 7 p.m. to eat dinner? Sorry, but if I eat lunch at noon, I'm ready for dinner between 4:30 and 5 p.m. And then the weekend hours are even crazier. The Cellar isn't even open during the afternoons and on Sundays, they don't feed you until 7:30 p.m. And there's no variety, just the same fattening fried food and subs. Yeah, they have a blue plate special, but I remember liking the selection once out of four months.
And what's the deal for commuters? If you have night classes, I hope you can handle the walk to the Student Union for the mundane food, because that's all you're going to get. Every other decent place on campus is closed by 2 p.m. How ridiculous is that? Nighttime commuters could be coming from work and could use something other than a vending machine for nourishment.
Another problem that I have is the university is in the process of building Mallory Court over in Ellicott. Hello? Remember the students that live over in Governors? Well, news flash, we're still here and just as hungry too. The Cellar is nice and all, but we have only two places compared to Hubie's, two dining centers, a centralized vending machine, a coffeehouse and the student club.
But I will say in Ellicott, they hold the same weird hours. I was checking out the schedule posted online for dining hours services and they are just as whacked for Ellicott as they are for any other place. What is so hard about having a place open for breakfast until about 2 p.m., then reopen at 4 p.m. to start serving dinner? Okay, so you have to pay and employ more workers, but finding workers shouldn't be hard. Students are always looking for a convenient, on-campus job.
So then, you have some options to weigh. You can choose to live over in Ellicott, have more food options but put up with loud noise, dirtier areas and those annoying fire alarms. I've been over in Ellicott and it's not a pretty site. The elevators often have garbage in them and when walking through the hallways, you hear a plentitude of noise. And I often hear stories about 4 a.m. fire alarms that frequently occur. It's Smellicott vs. Governerds, which to choose?
The food is a major problem here at UB. Not just the hours and choices but health-wise as well. Pizza and chicken fingers taste great (well, campus pizza isn't so great) but you shouldn't be forced to live on just fried foods. For all the money we put into this university, something should be done to cater to the most valuable resources here, students.
