Borrowed a quarter from someone this past week?

Let us guess – it was for a beverage in the vending machines.

The price of that 20-ouncer rose over break to $1.25, and was quite an unpleasant surprise to the returning students Tuesday.

Now this may seem like a trivial matter, but the rise in prices is apart of a bigger picture, and not just that we have one less quarter to do that much-needed laundry.

College students strive for convenience. Between our jobs, classes, studying and socializing, we often need on-the-go food, and the price of convenience for us is increasing.

It’s ridiculous that we can go to a store and buy a 2-liter for 98 cents. But when we need something quick, it’s more.

We could put on our beads and peace signs and say it’s “The Man” trying to get us down. But probably not. It’s probably the executives at Pepsi trying to squeeze every bit of money they can out of sleep-deprived, caffeine-addicted college students. We know it isn’t anything personal, but we were angry when we had to go to class without our Mountain Dew because we didn’t have that elusive extra quarter that no one ever has.

Besides the Washburn Review editorial board being mad at Pepsi, which probably makes them shake in their expensive suits, we are pretty sure that they’ve managed to make an entire campus a little miffed. This is beyond those that hate Pepsi because it’s not Coke. However, we do wonder if those in charge thought about the lost revenue due to those that don’t keep change in their pockets.

If you don’t have that extra quarter, then you aren’t going to be able to get that soda. So, rather than Pepsi getting $1.00, they are getting $0.00. None of us may be math majors, but we do know that one is better than none. Is the extra quarter worth it? Sure, most of the machines have the iCard readers on them, but there are still those students who only have that disappointing dollar.

We aren’t advocating a boycott of any kind. We’d probably be assassinated for suggesting something like that and we like our caffeine just as well as the next Ichabod. But we do wish someone would tell us and the rest of the student body why we’re being punished for that measly quarter. What does everyone know that we don’t?

Hopefully we’ll figure it out soon. Until then, can we borrow a quarter?