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Charie Duncan
CRN 10899
Deb Moore
11/26/12
Dishes in Dorms
Imagine living in a dorm as a broke college student. The best option for food is to go to
the cafeteria, and if it’s not open, cook food in the kitchen of the dorm. The problem with this
image is that, cookware is ridiculously expensive and college students typically don’t have much
spending money. Students pay a lot of money just to live in a dorm. They should be supplied
with necessities, such as cookware. Some may argue that this is a pointless topic, but it would
save students money, be easier than carrying all the cookware from our rooms, and the dorm
would profit if we added a five dollar increase to room and board to supply the cookware.
With the way the economy is today, people are learning how to be thriftier with their
lighter pockets. That hasn’t stopped the tuition from inflating a little each year though. Spending
money is becoming a thing of the past for most college students. This is causing a lot of stress.
According to a study done by Inceptia,” Students who work more than 20 hours per week
during the academic year are significantly more likely to report that financial stress has had a
negative impact on their academic progress or performance and that they reduced their academic
course load due to this stress.”
The supply of the small things, such as cookware in particular, would take away one of
the many stressors in college student’s lives. It would also save them the extra twenty to forty
dollars. Any money saved is a plus when in college.
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Go back to the image of the college student. Now place them staying in their dorm on the
third floor. If they had their own separate dishes, they would have to carry them all down the
stairs, including the food. Some may poke at this point by saying that they shouldn’t be lazy, but
not many people would want to do that. Also, to be fair, some people refer to college students as
“lazy” anyway. Kara Miller, in particular comes to mind. Her article called, My Lazy American
Students, went into detail on the laziness of students she had. But none the less, when it comes to
food, a lot of college students are lazy. They may even choose to go out and get fast food before
they carried all of that down to the kitchen.
In another scenario, one might consider what it would be like for a student that is
handicapped. Transporting all of their dishes and food to the kitchen could be a difficult task for
someone in a wheelchair, especially if that student has a hard time asking someone for help
because of their want to be normal. If the dishes were already supplied, it would make it a lot
easier to access the things that were needed.
Some people may argue that this would be unnecessary and cost the school money. That
would not be an issue with a five dollar increase to everyone’s cost on room and board. Five
dollars is nothing when compared to forty. Also, if there were at least 180 people in each dorm,
that would add an extra 900 dollars that could go toward the cookware and other things that
would help the environment in the building, to prosper. Surely there are other areas around the
dorms that could use a little more attention. They could even use part of the money to give the
hard working janitor a bonus. That would definitely be one of the many benefits of the increase.
The UCA website states that the average student’s tuition is $18,053. If you are paying
that much money per year, it would be hard to pay for the extra things, like dishes. Some also
might find it hard to believe that they couldn’t supply them without the increase, but it is a
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compromise and could do a lot of good. There are a lot of possibilities that could happen with the
increase. Maybe the school could take the money and paint the walls inside of the rooms to a tan
color or some other neutral color. That benefit would help the rooms to feel more hospitable,
rather than prison-like.
The good things that could come from this are obvious. The bad things are also quite
obvious though. If dishes were to be left unwashed and the kitchen was still left in a mess, there
would have to be consequences. At the beginning of every year, the students could sign a form
promising to do their part in keeping the kitchen as clean as it was when they arrived. If that
promise is broken once, then they could take away all kitchen privileges for three days. If it
continued for a second time, they could take the privileges for a week. On the third encounter of
the breaking of the rules, the dishes could be locked up in the office for the rest of the year.
On the other hand, this would give students an opportunity to take advantage of the
wonderful resources that are given to them. There are many resources that are not fully taken
advantage of on campus. That is a sad thing, because people are paid to do jobs like wait for
people to come to them who need help on homework. When things go without use, it results in a
termination or at least a cut down. So by allowing the cookware to be bought through the extra
money, there could be more of a reason to use the kitchen area.
Also, it might be a way for people in the dorm to bond. There could be cooking nights.
When people cook in the lobby, there are usually a lot more people hanging around. With dishes
already provided, people may be inclined to cook more often. Whether it is anything from
brownies all the way to casserole, make it and the people will come. This would be a major
benefit because every chance there is to make a new friend in college is a good one. Being
surrounded by large groups of people may bring people the courage to step out of their comfort
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zone and talk to new people. That is always a great advantage and college is known as the place
to try new things.
Another great advantage that should be mentioned would be the independence. College is
about becoming a new person and finding who they are by growing up and being independent.
Learning to cook at least a little bit is a necessity to life. People may not always have someone
there to cook their every meal and do all of their laundry. In growing up, one may learn that
things come up and taking care of themselves is part of being a responsible adult. No one should
ever feel dependent on anyone else to make sure they will survive.
If a student has a job, they might not make it back to the cafeteria in time to eat before
it’s closed. Rather than continuously eating unhealthy fast food, they could go to the kitchen and
access the dishes that are already there; which would, in turn, save more money in the long run.
Once again it comes back to the big picture: saving money. If it saves money, people love it,
especially the college students that are spending all of their money just trying to get by.
Therefore, regardless of the arguments that may be posed against this particular motion,
all of the facts are clearly stated. It would benefit the dormitory environment in countless ways to
furnish cookware for the students. The increase in the room and board would bring enough
money to supply the cookware plus extra for other things. It would be easier to access dishes. It
would also save the students money while giving a profit. By getting the cookware, the students
could have gatherings together to eat and make new friends. They could also use those
opportunities to become more independent. UCA should make the effort to supply the cookware
in the kitchens of the dorms so that all of these possibilities could become realities.
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Works Cited
Inceptia. "Financial Stress: An Everyday Reality for College Students." N.p., n.d. Web.
<https://www.inceptia.org/PDF/Inceptia_FinancialStress_whitepaper.pdf>.
Miller, Kara. "My Lazy American Students." N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/12/21/my_lazy_american_student
s/>.