Students staring blankly at menu after menu are not an uncommon sight at on-campus eateries like the Togo&s or Taco Bell, and many notice the increase in prices compared to off-campus locations.

It&s common practice that locations where you are &stuck& (airports, movie theaters, campuses) charge more per items than locations where choices are provided.

Herbert Blake, department of management chairman, said &It comes down to supply and demand. In business, you want to make as much money as you can, if you can get higher prices, you charge higher prices.&

Blake also stated that in a competitive environment, item pricing must be similar or better than others offering the same items.

The fact that we will pay, on average, about 9 cents more per item at the campus location of Taco Bell than the location less than a half a mile away on La Rivera Drive is related to competition.

Some items such as the popular Burrito Supreme and Grilled Stuft Burrito are priced 12 to 14 cents higher on campus.

Taco Bell is not competing with the location off-campus because it knows students will not leave their hard-earned parking spots to drive to the La Rivera location, nor do we have time to leave campus if we wanted to. Taco Bell management would not comment.

The campus location of Togo&s doesn&t match the prices of the Togo&s location on Folsom Boulevard, either. Togo&s, located in the Riverfront Center, charges exactly 40 cents more per sandwich on-campus. The difference is on all sandwiches, hot or cold, regular or large sized.

However, not all on-campus eateries are ripping students off.

The Union&s Kung Fu Fat&s Express offers food on its L street location, Frank Fats, for double and triple the cost. Both Chinese food restaurants are owned by the Fat familys.

An order of orange chicken at the restaurant will cost diners $11.50; on campus students pay $6.99.

Kung Fu Fat&s employee Michelle Lee said &The food is not exactly the same. Here we serve fast food. At the restaurant the food is cooked to order.&

Other items on campus that came in equal to or lower than off-campus offerings were the Whopper and double Whopper from Burger King (both priced 20 cents lower than Burger King located on Arden Way). Coffee drinks from Java City that were priced equal to the Java City location on 28th Street.

Gordito Burrito offers the exact same menu and pricings at all of its Sacramento locations including the University Union location.

Next time you pay for an item you think is over priced, remember that there are options.