Students charged for ‘free’ Starbucks

Connectivity issues with the right-side register revealed retroactive fees

By FIONA ROACH daily senior staffer @fionaroach03

Bing Crosby once sang “The Best Things in Life Are Free.”

But, unfortunately for Northwestern students, free Starbucks at the Norris University Center did not last forever.

For a few weeks of Winter Quarter, it appeared the Starbucks register on the right side of the counter in Norris was not charging students who paid for items with dining dollars.

News of the malfunction spread quickly through the student body. But, with the issue now resolved, some students are seeing new, retroactive deductions from their meal plan accounts.

Weinberg sophomore Caitlyn Hill said she heard about the malfunctioning register from her friends and decided to test it out.

“I didn’t get charged and I was like ‘Oh my gosh,’ so I came back to spread the good word,” Hill said. “My other friends (were) like, ‘We need to go load up. We need to go take full advantage of this moment.’”

She wouldn’t have minded being charged on purchase, she said, but was disappointed to be charged retroactively. She said she began with $80.86 in dining dollars prior to learning about the malfunction but now has $27. Like her, she said many of her friends spent a majority of their dining dollars.

Those who overdrew on their dining dollars have not faced any penalties or seen “negative” dining dollars in their GET Mobile accounts, though, according to Hill.

Assistant Vice President of Communications Jon Yates described the malfunctioning register as a delay in the charging of dining dollars, but did not comment on when or how the issue arose.

“Northwestern University and its dining partner Compass Group are aware of a network connectivity issue that may have created a lag in processing

» See NORBUCKS , page 10 lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research shows a lack of housing disrupts students’ education, mental health and social life.

A report from the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness found that even after being rehoused for six years, formerly unhoused students continue to struggle academically compared to classmates with permanent housing.

“Many students at Northwestern benefited from having educational stability throughout their life,” said Jen Feuer-Crystal, director of housing and youth programs at Connections for the Homeless. “We want to have those same outcomes for all of our District 65 kids and make sure they get what they need to be amazing students and amazing community members in Evanston.”

» See HOUSELESSNESS , page 10