At Redifer Dining Commons, milk isn't as cheap as it used to be.

Last Thursday, Redifer stopped offering students with meal plans a 70-percent discount on packaged products from the University Creamery, including individual yogurts and milk chugs.

One-pint milk bottles that used to cost 33 cents now cost $1.09, and the price of yogurt jumped from 30 cents to 99 cents.

Commons Manager Jim Richard said the prices were increased to equalize the prices with other dining halls on campus.

Lisa Wandel, associate food services director, said the decision was made at the beginning of this semester to stop offering the meal plan discount on all "external vendor" products, including bottled beverages and chips. The 10 percent discount at convenience stores such as Louie's was also eliminated, she said.

Wandel said products made "in house," such as sandwiches, are still eligible for both discounts. She added that external vendor products were offered at a discount last year at all à-la-carte eating facilities on campus, but "it was a big mistake because we were selling them for less than what we paid for them."

University Creamery Manager Tom Palchak said dining halls are a "wholesale account," so they receive a discount of 25 to 30 percent off of the retail price of Creamery milk. Even with this discount, however, Palchak estimated dining halls were "probably losing somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 cents" on each 1-pint milk bottle sold at 70 percent off.

Officials at Redifer did not realize the Creamery, which provides milk for all the dining halls, was considered an external vendor, Richard said. While the discount was correctly removed from other external vendor products, it mistakenly continued to apply to milk, Richard said.

The price hike affects some students' dining habits. Nick Klein (junior-finance) said he used to buy milk frequently from Redifer. "I drink it constantly," he said.

Without the 70 percent discount, Klein said his meal costs have increased dramatically. "I've started buying milk downtown," he said.

Palchak said that milk prices were higher on campus because of higher labor costs and smaller economies of scale relative to larger vendors.

Patrick Daley (sophomore-English) said he was also affected by the increase.

"I think it's close to the same price as a breakfast at the commons, which I think is just ridiculous," Daley said.

With the student meal plan, a breakfast at any dining commons costs $1.75.

Wandel said milk is still offered free with cereal at Redifer. All-you-can-eat dining halls still offer unlimited milk. The prepackaged milk is more expensive, she said, because students are "paying for convenience."

Richard said the increase was necessary. "To operate at a loss is only going to add cost down the road," he said.

The à-la-carte Bluespoon Deli in Warnock Dining Commons sells prepackaged milk without the discount, but it also sells milk from a dispenser for the discounted price of 31 cents, said Maureen Volz, Warnock Dining Commons manager.

Wandel said there is "not a lot of space to add more beverages" in Redifer. However, she added, "If milk were to become a large demand, we'd have to look into where to set [space] up."