Prices have gone up all over the place lately including at the school’s cafeteria.

Gatorade has gone from $1.25 to $1.50. Cookies jumped $1 to $1.50. Sandwiches and wraps increased from $2.50 to $3. Last year, pizza was $2, and it is now $2.50.

“I should have raised the prices in the middle of last year but I never raise prices [during] the middle of the year,” said Pam Carlino, director of food service. “I always do it at the beginning of the year so it’s not so shocking.”

According to Carlino, the school has a wellness policy, which means the school can only sell low-fat food, which is more expensive.

“The school wellness policy is a law from the federal and state government about a certain amount of fat that students can’t have in their food. They have to have reduced fat muffins and cookies,” said Carlino.

The rising prices are also the result of increasing expenses.

“Gas prices, the salaries of all the ladies, the union, the benefits and a lot of things are going up. Everything goes up every year,” said Carlino.

During the first few weeks of school, students were complaining about how high the lunch prices are. Some of them feel that the lunch prices are a rip-off.

“I understand that they need to make profit out of the food, but they don’t need to take advantage of students’ pocket money,” said sophomore Amber Arroyo.