News Briefs
Cut Dining Costs Five Percent by Showing Your ID If you’re an MIT student, you don’t have to pay tax on most on-campus food purchases.
Show your MIT student ID and skip the 5 percent meals tax at Anna’s Taqueria, Dunkin Donuts, and many other on-campus vendors — see a full list at http://web.mit.edu/dining/locations/retailoptions.html.
You don’t have to pay cash to get the discount, although one Dunkin’ Donuts employee told this reporter otherwise earlier this month. Some vendors may automatically give you the discount if you look like a student — Anna’s and Subway employees often do so. Other vendors, like Cambridge Grill, will ask whether you’re a student. If vendors don’t ask, you may need to remind them that you’re a student whose food is tax-exempt. Although it may technically be required, few vendors will actually ask to see your student ID.
By the way, this won’t work at LaVerde’s: they’re not considered to be operated by MIT. Instead they’re owned by a subsidiary of Boston University, and lease their Student Center space from the Institute. At LaVerde’s, MIT students, like everyone else, pay a 5 percent tax on prepared food.
—Michael McGraw-Herdeg