West Ottawa Jr. Annemarie Vargas walks up to the Starbucks counter. She’s craving a strawberry acai refresher before school starts. She orders it and taps her card to the scanner. Her heart sinks as she sees the price. After ordering pumps of vanilla and extra juice for her refresher, her bank account took a hit. Walking out with her almost $10 drink, Vargas was ready to start her day at school. Refreshing and delicious. Expensive and unnecessary. 

   On any given day, a West Ottawa High School student can be seen walking around with a Starbucks coffee. Some people even get these drinks more than once a week. “I get a Venti Strawberry Acai refresher with peach juice, light ice, no berries, and add two pumps of vanilla. I’d say it costs about $8.50. I go to Starbucks four to six times per week,” Jr. Monroe Milobinski said.

    On April 20, students walked through South main street, walking to their classes before the 4-minute bell rang. 12 people were carrying a Starbucks cup from this crowd. From those 12 people, assuming all of them got the most popular drink (Venti Strawberry Acai refresher), these people in total spent $71.88. Of course, far more than 12 people purchased Starbucks that day. So, this puts the amount of money students spend on Starbucks into perspective. And what other items could people get with the money they spend on Starbucks?

   Taking the most common drink students order and averaging how often students go to Starbucks weekly, A West Ottawan study made an estimate for how much money was spent on Starbucks in a lifetime. 

Grande Strawberry Acai: $5.40

Total drinks twice weekly from ages 16 through 76: 6,240 drinks

Total lifetime cost: $33,696

   With the same amount of money, instead of wasting it on overpriced coffee, a Ford Mustang could be bought. Single-family apartments are also up for sale for a monthly rent of a thousand dollars. Or spend your $33,696 on a four-week vacation trip around Europe going to countries like Paris, Spain, London, and Germany. These experiences are so much more fulfilling than a twenty-four-ounce coffee. 

   If the same amount of money was instead invested, this would create even more wealth. Instead of simply saving the amount of $572 a young person can invest in the SP with an annual compound. Gaining more interest from this saved money to soon get put into an SP 500 index fund can earn a large pile of money that is more valuable than a few cups of coffee. They invested the next year, the next, and the year after that to gain a whopping total of $138,371.85 in thirty years. 

   “WHAT,” Milobinski said.

   “That’s crazy,” Soph. Izzy Niles said.

   Despite hearing how expensive getting Starbucks consistently is, some people still make the conscious decision to keep purchasing these drinks.

   “It’s a sweet treat and I feel like I deserve nice things sometimes,” Niles said.

   “I feel it’s a little expensive but the drinks are still really good, so it makes up for it,” Jr. Taryn Reimink said. 

   Others are not quite as deep in denial at the expense and wastefulness of Starbucks.  “Doesn’t surprise me though, Starbucks is expensive. Getting an eight-dollar drink more than weekly can definitely end up putting a dent in a high school student’s bank account,” Instructor Ryan Burke said

   Evidently, money is wasted on Starbucks. But, everyone also knows the feeling of waking up early in the morning and needing a drink to get through the day. So, what is a Starbucks lover to do? Waste money or just never cure their craving.

   Thankfully, there are many alternatives to Starbucks. Which includes just having drinks at home. An average cup of coffee at home a day costs 62 cents. A lot cheaper than the average $5.40. Another alternative could include buying drinks from smaller businesses where the prices may not be as high.

“I like Starbucks but there’s a coffee shop named Ziggys and the quality is so much better and you get so much coffee for a lot less,” Soph. Lovel Kim said.

   Starbucks or no Starbucks. It’s up to each individual to choose. One can be supplied with the information of cost and alternatives, but it is up to each person to decide what to spend their money. Whether to invest and earn $138,371.85 in 30 years or get a sweet treat 2 times a week.