Dining - Hall Deficit Makes Increase In Food Rates Inevitable Next Year

Although it seems certain that there will be no increase in dining-hall rates during the remainder of the year, it was learned last night that the University is preparing to raise the price of meals next fall because of labor expenses.

The University estimates that it would cost $80,000 annually to put into effect the wage rate now being asked by cooks and waitresses. That this would have to be paid by the students is obvious if the dining-halls are to retain their self supporting character.

Ever since the $2 raise granted November 24, 1937, the dining-hall system has been on an unsound financial footing, and the continued existence of the Temporary Student Employment Plan is in serious danger as a result.

The 1937 raise added approximately $25,000 to the total operating expenses of the dining-halls last year, and was thus largely responsible for the total deficit of $32,996.78 shown by the University Dining-Halls and Harvard Union last July.

The Union, which operates on its own budget, went into the red to the extent of only $3,423.81, and this was easily absorbed by a substantial credit balance built up when the Yardlings' hall was operating at a profit.

Even the existence of a special fund to absorb the deficit of Business School Dining-Halls left the University Dining-Halls so deeply in the hole that it took over 20 per cent of the credit balance to feet the bill. At this rate the balance will not last long.

T. S. E. P. has been financed for the last six years by an annual grant of $40,000, a third of this paid from Union receipts, two thirds by the University Dining-Halls. Abolition of T. S. E. P., depriving many students of jobs would nevertheless reduce the Dining-Halls' deficit to a negligible sum and put the Union back on a paying basis.

Even this drastic expedient, however, will not save the system if further concessions are made to labor, and these seem inevitable. Moreover the University is committed to continue T. S. E. P. for at least another year. For this reason the University is negotiating for raises to take effect in September, thereby relieving this year's budget of unexpected burden and allowing time to consider and fix a new meal rate.