The cost of a cup of coffee comes at various prices across campus. Campus administration, however, does not have jurisdiction over these prices.

According to campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof, unless the café’s business contract with the campus has specific guidelines, the campus has no say over the prices of these shops.

The cafés range from privately owned businesses who have established themselves on campus, such as Press or Yali’s Cafe, to those borne from the campus Cal Dining service, such as Common Grounds or Golden Bear Café.

With the variety of prices, there are some coffee shops across the campus that provide more cost-effective alternatives compared to others.

For coffee, all Cal Dining cafés have a baseline price of $2.15 for a small coffee and $3.45 for a small latte, whereas the price of a latte at independent businesses on campus reaches upward of $4.25.

A representative of Cal Dining could not be reached for comment.

Campus junior Keren Lev said she prefers to go to the Press coffee stand, which is right outside the fourth floor of Moffitt Library. As the campus’s newest coffee shop, Press still has short lines — which Lev said is why she chooses to go there.

Overall, Lev said she is satisfied with the the quality of service, affordability and effort the campus makes to provide healthy food options.

According to campus junior Karina Parker, the campus offers a lot of the same options at each of the coffee shops.

“I don’t feel like I’m going to trek across campus to go to another coffee shop, because the coffee shop closest to me offers the same thing,” Parker said.

In terms of cost, Parker said she feels that the prices are reasonable. She, however, is concerned with the lack of diversity among the food offered at the cafés.

“There are so many other ethnic varieties off-campus, whereas on campus, it is all very much one classic American kind of fare,” Parker said.

Campus junior Santi Bhattarai-Kline said he comes to the on-campus cafés a few times a week and that he feels they provide enough variety.

“I don’t expect Cal Dining to offer a ton of food at any of the cafés, especially with how they have been cutting things like Late Night, and it seems that they have been trying to downsize a little bit or cut some fat from their budget,” Bhattarai-Kline said. “I guess it’s kind of a shame that there is less stuff than there used to be.”

In reminiscence, Bhattarai-Kline noted the chicken strips that were dropped from Golden Bear Café’s menu are still talked about to this day.

“There is no way to get a cheap meal without making it yourself,” Bhattarai-Kline said.