Food for Thought – Day 1
To mark the beginning of this 19-day challenge, I was invited to describe the Food for Thought experiment on 610 CKTB Radio. My voice was then heard on two more radio shows later that day. In each interview, I made sure to provide facts about the purpose of our campaign, as well as to share with them my strategy for this challenge.
Here is the message that I delivered:
OUSA believes that students are paying more than their fair share of their higher education, and that the Government of Ontario is placing too great of a financial burden onto students.
OSAP allows up to $12,540 for living expenses, which works out to be about $3,000 below the poverty line for a city like St. Catharines. Translation: our Government is institutionalizing student poverty. This is the reality. This is the big message, or food for thought, if you will.
It may not be my reality, as I have been fortunate enough to receive financial support from my parents, an on-campus job with Brock University’s Community Connections department and other various forms of financial aid, like merit-based scholarships, throughout my academic career.
BUT, this isn’t about me. I am just one of five voices who have stepped up to the plate to bring these issues forward. I am in my final year of my undergraduate degree. In a few short months, I will be transitioning out of my university life. To the ’91 and ’92 babies coming to Brock next year, I’m pretty much a dinosaur… and I just happen to be an empathetic dinosaur who can recognize the challenges that lie ahead for them as they manage thousands and thousand and thousands of dollars for tuition, books and living expenses. I care about their future and realize that tuition prices are rising, living costs are increasing, student job opportunities are depleting while the amount of financial support that our government provides remains unchanged and, in another word, flawed.
One 9am class, one front cover article in the Toronto Star, one interview and photo shoot with the St. Catharines Standard, an on-campus event, an intense homework session in the library, a 3-hour night class later and I find myself in bed, reflecting on how much I spent on food today.
Breakfast: One cup of tea, a banana, a cup of yogurt, and a bowl of plain Oatmeal a la brown sugar. 94 cents.
$.30 (One bag of oatmeal = $3 incl. tax = roughly 10 cups = $.30 per cup) + $.42 (12 cups of yogurt = $5… Activia was on sale! Woohoo! = $.42 per cup) + ($.69 per 453.59 grams = roughly 100g per banana = $.22)
Lunch: A turkey wrap with cucumbers, lettuce and buttah. Cost? Roughly $1.00 (Same fancy arithmetic as before, I’ll spare you the nitty gritty details)
Snack: All Bran bar. 70 cents.
Dinner: It pays (almost literally) to have family nearby… I went to my sister’s for a roast beef dinner. Cost? One thank you and one hug.
TOTAL for Day 1 = $2.64
Full bellied and satisfied for now,
Rach
Oh please do give us the financial details, even if just as footnotes!
There’s a lot of difference in the cost of things such as oatmeal, depending on whether you buy the material in bulk, in packages, in packets, semi-processed or pre-cooked and pre-flavoured.
Preparation times would be interesting, too.
My bet is you can live well on $7.50 a day, but only if you can shop brilliantly and cook well, and maybe share cheaper, larger packages among friends.