Boarding school enforces 33% increased price structure, students rebel via malicious compliance: 'There was an uproar'

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
May 4, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

What was this school's administration thinking? Not only did they decide to suddenly and without warning increase the weekly rates for its boarding students, but when they finally informed the student population, they fully lied about how big the increase actually was.

Clearly, these board members could not do math on their own or they wildly underestimated the strengths of their largely STEM-oriented students. These folks were quick to calculate that the weekly price increase was not 2% as the board had stated. Instead, the prices had increased a full 33%. Talk about a manipulative and wildly unethical way of justifying the policy changes.

Thankfully, the school was located downtown among various restaurants where students could go get their own meals for a much cheaper price. So, the students began opting out of meal plans in droves, draining the school's resources in the process and forcing them to go back to the old price structure within a few weeks. That's called collective action, folks! For more stories like this, check out this one about another penny-pinching school administration.

Advertisement
  • 01
    JERONIMO
    via Mario Gogh
  • 02
    r/MaliciousCompliance Posted by D u/Hadomai 12 hours ago Rewrite your prices to gouge money from students and bleed money out, a tutorial. MOC
    via u/Hadomai
  • 03
    This is from over a decade ago when I was a student, but it never fails to make me smile even now.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 04
    The curriculum I was in is very particular to my country. It's a two- year intensive program that usually ends in admission to the best schools in the country. This curriculum, like most of its kind, was hosted by a public high school (with a much larger population of high school students), and - important part - it was heavily STEM-oriented.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 05
    This high school, being downtown in a big city in a large area of nothing, had, in addition to the usual lunch room, boarding facilities that were mostly used by students in this curriculum, as the high school population usually lived in town.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 06
    When I arrived, the price structure was the following: boarding students paid a fixed price of about €62 a week for the room and all meals Monday morning through Saturday morning
    via u/Hadomai
  • 07
    • other students could eat lunch for about €4.30 a lunch, with a prepaid card. Easy enough. (I don't remember the exact prices but it was in this range)
    via u/Hadomai
  • 08
    In January of my second year, all boarding students were made to attend a meeting about a new price structure that would count everything separately.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 09
    • The room would be €29 a week, lunch and dinners would be €4.20 a pop, and breakfast would be €2 a pop.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 10
    The resulting price would be an across the board 2% increase, which "is negligible".
    via u/Hadomai
  • 11
    Key word being "across the board" here. I still don't know who they expected to fool. Obviously good STEM students would figure out instantly that for them, the week would now be €82, so a 33% increase.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 12
    There was an uproar. The rest of the meeting was hearing over and over "it was validated by the school board". As if boarding students had any representation there. The parents were too far and the students too busy. And of course other parents and students would approve of what was essentially a discount for them.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 13
    So we were stuck with the new pricing. Okay. But we don't pay for the meals if we don't go, huh?
    via u/Hadomai
  • 14
    Remember: the school was downtown. And it appears, the students needed much less the breakfast, lunch and dinner on site where there are tons of options in walking distance at a lesser price. Up to and including stocking up things in the rooms for breakfast.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 15
    The kitchen was DROWNING in stock and BLEEDING money through the nose. The school being public, buying the food was not a very flexible process they could change week after week.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 16
    It only lasted a few weeks they came back to the old pricing structure, albeit a little higher (€65 per week I believe). I still call it a win.
    via u/Hadomai
  • 17
    Archangel4500000 12 hr. ago Ferengi rule of Acquisition #23 "Nothing is more important than your health... except for your money."
    via u/Hadomai
  • 18
    harrywwc 11 hr. ago so, more a 5% increase and not the 'negligible 2%' that was actually 33%. nice little earner if you can pull it off ;) I can almost hear in the back office "eh, they're just a bunch of kids, they'll never know the difference." (or the equivalent in relevant Euro language ;)
    via u/Hadomai

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

FAILS school students malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit lunch teacher high school reddit thread Reddit
Scroll Down For The Next Article