Letters to the editor

I walk into the Willkie Quad center store and pick up a bag of Reese's Bites. As I approach the counter and wait for the cashier to swipe my card, something strikes me. This little two-ounce bag of candy costs $2.50! \nI grab the bag and place it back on the shelf. "$2.50?" I ask the cashier. "Yeah. You want it or not?" "No thanks," I reply. \nThe same day I pay $42 for penalty fees, $135 for limited parking and $25 for shoddy air-conditioning installation. \nI don't mean to be a penny-pincher about prices at IU, but I do believe we are getting ripped off -- big time. Inflated prices are one thing, but 300 percent markups on simple necessities like food are ridiculous by any standard. \nThere are also hordes of erroneous fees and monetary endeavors imposed by the university that we are expected to forget about. For instance, take a total of all the $22 late registration penalties and the $5 fees you pay every time you add or drop a course over the phone. It starts adding up. \nAnd the worst is happening as we speak. If you plan to support the World Trade Center disaster relief effort, according to IDS, only $3 of the $7.50 that you donate to the Red Cross will actually be given to the foundation. The rest will go to RPS. Knowing that most of us feel some sort of remorse about the tragedy last week, I feel that this is shameful. You can't even be charitable without the University taking its proud share.\nAt IU, we are placed in an isolated economy that is allowed to manipulate and enforce monetary policy however they wish. I wrote this letter to encourage you to ask questions about what you are paying for and why it is so outrageously expensive. If you care about where your money's going, keep an eye out for what you're paying for. If you don't care, simply accept and forget about it, Mommy and Daddy will pick up the bill.\nJoe Spurling\nJunior