Aramark, food service provider for Northwest College, proposed a four percent raise in food charges to the college, but student meal plans will only go up two percent.

Dee Havig, director of housing, said even though prices are increasing for the college, they don’t have to affect the students as much. Havig said, “Housing numbers are healthy” and the school wants to keep students on campus and also attract future students. Havig didn’t want students to have to worry about paying more for housing with the increase in meal plans and tuition.

The price changes will be presented to the Board of Trustees during the Feb. 13 meeting as an informational item, said Havig.

Ken Beebe, director of food services, said the reason for the increases is the fact that food and fuel prices are rising. Prices are going up as a nationwide trend because of the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region. The major increases are in produce, meat and fuel – all of which affect Aramark’s services, said Beebe.

He said Aramark also wants to be able to pay employees more to accommodate for the inflation. During the span of Aramark’s contract with NWC, price increases “averaged less than two percent a year,” said Beebe.

Because the food costs are changing, the college has decided to keep housing costs the same for both the residence halls and apartments, according to Havig. He said the only change in housing costs will be the new rate for Simpson Hall. Havig hopes a rate will be proposed at the upcoming board meeting. He said that Simpson Hall is made up of 80 single rooms, which is why the rate will be different for the new hall.