Whether a student indulges in fast food five days a week or splurges twice a week on a grande-normous low fat extra hot quad shot latte with whipped cream coupled with an overpriced salad, seniors are spending more money on lunch than they realize.
Many CHS seniors take advantage of their lunch break by going to local restaurants for a midday meal. Over the course of the entire school year, approximately 36 weeks of school (give or take a couple of snow days), seniors have the option to go out for lunch about 180 times—somewhat alarming when contemplating this cost in addition to other expenditures.
“College is extremely costly,” senior Steven Dilsizian said. “That being said, senior year at CHS comes along with a ton of expenses like prom, banquet, beach week and open lunch. It’s a bit overwhelming when you think about it.”
In an Observer survey of 46 CHS seniors, 26 percent of students said that they go out to lunch five days a week, while 36.96 percent said they go out once a week. Seniors also said they spend between $4 and $15 each time they eat out.
A contributing factor for student spending habits is whether they are spending their own hard-earned, or hardly-earned, money.
According to the survey, 52.17 percent of CHS seniors have a job. Additionally, 41.3 percent claim that their parents give them money for lunch each week, ranging from anywhere between $10 and $60 a week.
Instead of spending money at restaurants, some seniors prefer to spend their lunch break other ways.
“You can stay at school or go to a friend’s house,” senior Miriam Fall said.
Assuming a student goes out to lunch four days a week and spends an average of $7 on their food, that student will have spent approximately $1,008 over the course of year on lunch. On the other hand, students who go out once a week and splurge on a $10 lunch will have spent around $360. By going out only once a week, students could being saving upwards of $600—money that can surely be used for other things.
Taking all of this into account, students must ask themselves if it is really worth it to go out to lunch as frequently as they are now.
