…Enjoy the Eternal City, but don’t expect your senior discount!
By Nancy Mandell, guest blogger
Having just returned from a week in Rome, let me say that it is a great city to visit, but you might think twice before moving there to live!
First of all, there don’t appear to be any senior discounts! Museums reduce entry fees for children and students—but not for senior citizens! At the movie theatre where we saw Sherlock Holmes in English on New Year’s Day, the policy was discounted tickets for children, students and the military!
Furthermore, while the rigid dining hours I found on previous trips now seem relegated only to the most formal of ristorantes I don’t think there is anything like an early-bird special! And at $1.43 to the euro, even the prix fixe menus carried sticker shock. But at least you can sit down for a snack—anything from pizza to panini—at virtually any hour of the day. If you want just a slice, however, you’ll probably have to take it to go. By the way, it’s important never to forget that a cappuccino from the same machine at the same coffee bar may cost you as much as double if you take it sitting at a table rather than standing at the counter. They’re shorter—and to my taste, better—than the US version, anyway, and usually never too hot to handle.
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A recent national survey[1] showed that the average tuition increase at private colleges for the 2009-2010 school year was 4.3%, the lowest in 37 years. There are various reasons for this drop, including cost-cutting at universities, slowing inflation and concern for students’ and parents’ ability to pay in these tough economic times. However, what’s most surprising is that after years of large increases, this small tuition increase follows negative investment performance of school endowments over 2008-2009.
