Starting next semester, students will be required to pay a 7.5 percent tax on purchases using food points.
The North Carolina legislature recently lifted tax exemptions on many items, including student food purchases at higher education institutions and in entertainment venues. These changes will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.
Students’ spring semester bills will include the tax as an “NC sales tax surcharge," which will not be added in the original meal plan cost choices, according to the Student Affairs website. A $2,445 plan will receive a $183.38 tax surcharge, bringing the total cost of the plan to $2,628.38. The higher amount will appear in students' food point accounts, and the tax deductions will be charged with each purchase. Students studying at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C. will be required to pay a 6.75 percent tax.
Besides the surcharge, no changes to the existing meal plans will occur.
In an email to the student body Thursday, Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta announced the change and explained some of the logistics of the additional taxes.
“Specifics regarding collection and payment of taxes are still evolving,” Moneta wrote in the email.
He also assured that the Student Affairs website would provide students with updates as they become available.
Moneta did not respond to requests for comment Thursday after the email was sent.
All Duke scholarships and grant aid recipients will receive additional grant aid for the additional tax expenses. Any unused tax surcharges will be returned to financial aid for these students and to FLEX for students not receiving aid.
Some students have already expressed their confusion and discontent with the changes.
“It’ll be a real burden to college students who are already on a budget. Now they’ll have to worry about food points being taxed. It just seems unnecessary,” said freshman Emily Chen.
Chen also questioned the purpose of the taxes and who will be the beneficiaries of the resulting revenue. More information and transparency would lessen the general confusion of the student population, she said.
Despite the increased cost of using food points, however, freshman Florence Tesha expressed the belief that it will not necessarily change people's eating habits.
“I will definitely eat the same way,” she said. “I just fear because my scholarship may change or be cut off due this new cost.”
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