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Wednesday, April 02, 2025 — Houston, TX

Tetra increases to $100

tetra-channing-wang-web
Channing Wang/Thresher

By Savannah Kuchar     9/3/19 9:55pm

On-campus meal plans will now provide students with $100 in Tetra per semester rather than $50. According to David McDonald, senior business director for Housing and Dining, the additional Tetra will be allocated to students with meal plan A, B or C.  

McDonald said that the increased amount is included in the cost of the meal plan but that the overall cost of the meal plan has increased by less than $50.

“The cost of the meal plan has increased $20 this semester from the previous semester,” McDonald said. “This is a complex calculation that takes into consideration numerous factors and not just Tetras.”



According to McDonald, the increase in Tetra is part of an effort to increase the accessibility of non-servery food options on campus. Further reasons for the increase are the additional options for Tetra use this year and general price inflation.

“We have recently added Tetra at the [BioScience Research Collaborative] and will be adding readers to [the] Moody [Center for The Arts] and select athletics concessions later this fall,” McDonald said. “With price inflation over the last 15 years, we have determined that Tetra amounts will likely not ‘stretch’ far enough combined with multiple new venues in the near future.”

Morgan Seay, a Hanszen College sophomore, said that she is in favor of the change but understands some people may have concerns about the additional money.

“I really like it,” Seay said. “But I don’t know how other students feel about it because it’s like free money, but you still pay for it. So other people are more opinionated on it, but since I’m on scholarship, I don’t really have to think about that.”



More from The Rice Thresher

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Student store offers discounted merch to students

Select merchandise from the Campus Bookstore will now be available to students for a discounted price, according to an Instagram post by the Student Association in collaboration with the Campus Bookstore. Each month, designated “spirit items” will be offered at a 10% discount. For the month of March, the selected merchandise was two blue Rice T-shirts.  


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