Let’s Compare: University prices for lunch in different parts of Europe and the Euro-zone influence area -VS- elementary and high school lunch prices in the United States.
That’s a reasonable range of .81 to 3.2 euro. Or $0.88 to $3.46 for a wide range of university lunches and dinners.
To compare here are a few random school lunch prices in the US (2024-25 School Year Prices as published by school districts).
| Northshore School District Bothell, WA | K-5: $4.00 6-12: $4.50 | https://www.nsd.org/schools/get-started/food-services/meal-prices |
| Lake Stevens School District Stevens, WA | K-5: $3.00 6-12: $3.75 +Additional a la carte item prices. | https://www.lkstevens.wednet.edu/departments/food-nutrition-services/school-meal-prices |
| Spring Hill, KS | Elementary School: $2.75 High School: $3.00 +Additional a la carte item prices. +Milk Fees for All Students: $0.60 | https://www.usd230.org/Page/258 |
| Fairfax County, VA | Elementary School: $3.25 Middle school: $3.50 High school: $3.50 +Additional a la carte item prices. | https://www.fcps.edu/services/families-and-caregivers/food-and-nutrition/prices-lunch-account-prepayments-and-refunds |
| Brownsburg, IN | Elementary: $3.30 High school: $3.45 | https://www.brownsburg.k12.in.us/resources/nutrition-services/meal-prices |
| Peoria Unified School District Peoria, AZ | High school: $2.75 “The federal United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds that had allowed schools to offer free meals to students throughout the first years of the pandemic have expired.” | https://www.peoriaunified.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4109&ModuleInstanceID=19147&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=45147&PageID=6946 |
The Peoria AZ school district actually has the gall to blame the USDA for bringing back school lunch costs. Meaning your federal tax money went straight into their pockets and now that the gravy train has stopped, children have to pay for lunch in a place where they are mandated by law to be (and not allowed to leave school grounds). Just remove one board member salary from the school district and pay for all kids lunches. This goes for all school districts that took USDA grant money.
This is the US forcibly taxing poor children and their parents by drastically overcharging for something that should cost almost nothing and is already (as it should be) fully tax payer supported.
This doesn’t even get started on the US university food prices where everything has become inflated up by the student loan system and for profit school. All of which allows private equity and non-local corporate interests to profit by preying on the uneducated youth of America. It’s sad and truly disgusting.
