Campus on $5 a Day

Think it’s impossible to eat something yummy, learn something new, find something beautiful, or see something amazing on campus without paying a hefty price? We sent our intrepid reporter to discover if there are bargains worth hunting.

By Gwen Evans '79

When Arthur Frommer published Europe on $5 a Day fifty years ago, he had no idea his book would become a travel guide classic. Surprise: his book soon had the continent crawling with frugal-minded globetrotters.

Over the years, inflation ramped up the costs of travel, and subsequent editions were titled Europe on $5 and $10 a Day and, eventually, Europe from $95 a Day.

Frommer couldn’t bear to break the $100 mark, so he called it quits on the dollars-a-day approach. However, his ethic lives on, at least in the minds of my tightwad On Wisconsin editors, who believe that dinner and a show doesn’t cost more than $5. Um, hello? It’s not 1963, people. My assignment was to explore and experience the UW-Madison campus, spending no more than $5 a day. I tried reasoning with them. I begged and whined. But they were resolute. So, not being a coward, but with foolishness to spare, I agreed to the challenge.

I’m happy to report that with proper planning and an open mind, it is quite possible to play tourist for little or no charge — and have memorable campus experiences that would make Frommer proud.

Before we begin our adventures, some ground rules: I assume you have a place to stay and you will start out with a full tummy. For $5, you’ll get off the beaten path and have a more authentic time. I promise, though, that bathing in the fountain on Library Mall or at lake’s edge behind the Union, panhandling, or Dumpster diving are not necessary. Stick with me, kiddo, and you just might have change left over from your $5.

Trust me.

The frugal explorer does not part with money when reliable information can be had for free. The Welcome Center at 21 North Park Street or the Campus Information Center at the Red Gym should be your first stop. Both locations feature cheerful and knowledgeable student staffers who dispense maps, ideas, and advice.

Leave your car at home or at the hotel. Parking is in short supply, and feeding the meter will quickly bust the bank. The best way to get your bearings is to hop a free campus bus. The Route 80 bus travels west from the Memorial Union, past Picnic Point to the Eagle Heights Apartments, and back again in about an hour. The Route 85 bus circles between the Memorial Union and Union South, and conveniently stops in front of the Welcome Center. Both routes have the bus chugging up the switchback turn on Bascom Hill, with the driver violating the lane lines something fierce. Feel free to hop on and off a bus as you please — they come by about every seven minutes while classes are in session.

Next, prevent deep-vein thrombosis with a free, guided campus walking tour. The tours take about one hundred minutes and are led by student tour guides who love hearing stories from alumni. Really! Tours are offered at 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and at noon on Saturday and Sunday throughout the year, except on football Saturdays, holidays, and when classes are not in session. Reservations are recommended; call (608) 263-2400. Tours leave from the Campus Information Center.

Few universities are as lovely as UW-Madison, with its 325 acres of natural areas, nearly three miles of Lake Mendota shoreline, and legendary Picnic Point. A must-do is a ramble on the Howard Temin Lakeshore Path, named in 1998 as a tribute to the late UW-Madison professor of oncology and Nobel Prize winner. Temin often walked and bicycled the path, finding opportunities for quiet reflection and contemplation. Begin at the Memorial Union and head west. You’ll pass the Lakeshore Residence Halls and the swanky new Porter Boathouse. Along the way, you’ll see wildlife and Indian burial mounds.

Continue on and take the classic Picnic Point walk, stopping to have an epiphany or two. And pucker up: A Florida newspaper rated the location one of the world’s best places to kiss. After pitching all that woo, a post-smooch drink at the water pump/bubbler is a must.

At sunset, head to the Observatory Drive overlook, from which you can see the contours of Picnic Point, the stone bluffs of Maple Bluff to the east, and across Lake Mendota all the way to Waunakee’s water tower eight miles north. And on a clear day, you’ll want to burst into song. Release your inner Barbra Streisand.

Now don’t clutch your pearls, people. Elizabeth Waters Hall, next to the Observatory Drive vista and the last women-only residence hall on campus, went co-ed in 2006. The second floor of Cole Hall is now a women-only residence.

If you prefer nature all tidy and nicely arranged, a visit to the Allen Centennial Gardens is for you. The 2.5-acre site at the intersection of Observatory and Babcock Drives is decked out with twenty-two types of gardens, including daylily, exotic shrub, and edible. All are anchored by an imposing Victorian Gothic house that was once the residence of the agricultural dean. The gardens are popular for wedding ceremonies, with slots booking up years in advance.

Other campus nature sites to consider visiting include the Botanical Garden near Birge Hall, the greenhouse inside Birge, and the D.C. Smith Greenhouse across the street from Babcock Hall.

The largest campus natural area is the UW Arboretum, located several miles south of campus on the shores of Lake Wingra — and it’s worth the trip. It offers 1,260 acres of restored prairies, forests, and wetlands to explore, along with an astounding collection of trees, shrubs, and pre-settlement plants. The McKay Visitor Center should be your first stop. Madison Metro routes 4 and 19 will get you within a few blocks of the Arboretum entrance for $1.50 (seniors sixty-five and older ride for $.75), but it’s a good mile from there to the visitor center. The walk is lovely, so enjoy the scenery.

All that bracing fresh air and wild nature makes one yearn for civilization and indoor pleasures — a stroll in a gallery, perhaps?

The Chazen Museum of Art (formerly known as the Elvehjem) has something for everyone: paintings, prints, sculpture, and photography from many time periods. Drop-in tours with a docent are held Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. Admission is free, so head to the museum shop with your mad money and pick up a souvenir of your visit.

Memorial Union’s four galleries showcase more than 1,300 works by some five hundred student and professional artists, including Aaron Bohrod, Dale Chihuly MS’67, Warrington Colescott, Joan Miró, and Diego Rivera.

Head west to the School of Human Ecology to see the Gallery of Design exhibitions — such as the art of camouflage and disposable dresses from
the 1960s.

The university also hosts more than 1,500 performing arts events each year, embracing all manner of music, dance, theater, and film, and most of them are free.

For music, head to the George L. Mosse Humanities Building to find Mills Concert Hall and the Morphy and Eastman recital halls for performances by students, faculty, and guest artists. From symphony and ensemble to solo performances, there is always something wonderful going on. Call the Concert Line at (608) 263-9485 or visit www.wisc.edu/music for listings.

At the top of Bascom Hill, the ivy-covered Memorial Carillon Tower in front of the William H. Sewell Social Sciences Building offers music of another sort. The largest of the carillon’s fifty-six bells weighs 6,800 pounds; the smallest, a mere 15. Carillonneur Lyle Anderson ’68, MMusic’77 performs Sundays at 3:00 p.m. during the academic year, as well as several times each week. Ever the joker, he has been known to serenade students during finals week with funeral dirges as they trudge to exams.

Although the days of robust film societies on campus are long gone — the victim of VCRs and DVDs — there’s no substitute for the big-screen, communal film-viewing experience, and it lives on at UW-Madison. The Fredric March Play Circle in Memorial Union presents free films — usually newer releases — on Friday and Saturday nights; visit www.union.wisc.edu/film for details. Admission is also free at Cinematheque, which offers international, silent, and classic films in 4070 Vilas Hall on Friday and Saturday nights during the academic year, with special summer programming on Thursday and Friday nights. Call (608) 262-3627 or visit cinema.wisc.edu for details.

Sadly, as Badger sports teams have improved, some tickets have gotten scarce and too dear for my thrifty editors. But never fear. Athletic and physical achievement, sportsmanship, the thrill of victory, and the agony of you-know-what don’t have to have a big price tag. Tickets to men’s and women’s soccer; women’s hockey, volleyball, and softball; and men’s wrestling are only $5. Seniors (fifty-five and older) get in for $2, leaving change for snacks. And let me remind you that the women’s hockey team claimed back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007. Take that, Minnesota!

Better yet, plenty of Badger sports are free. Choose among cross-country, golf, rowing, tennis, swimming, and track. Schedules and more information are available at www.uwbadgers.com.

Just because you can’t pony up for a football ticket doesn’t mean you need be deprived of the UW Marching Band. How do you think they get so good? Practice. During football season, the band rehearses on Tuesdays though Fridays, 3:45 to 5:30 p.m., on the field west of the Natatorium. The mood is quite festive. There’s lots of shouting and laughing (from the field and from conductor Mike Leckrone4), and you’ll see how demanding it is to be a band member. They work it. Hard.

The Kohl Center is home to Badger basketball and hockey, as well as events ranging from a Cher concert to a conversation with the Dalai Lama. Groups of up to sixty people may make a reservation for a free tour Mondays through Fridays between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Tours take about forty-five minutes, and you’ll see the seating bowl, the Chihuly glass sculpture, a suite, the coaches’ offices, and the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion. Walk-in tours begin at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To schedule a tour, call (608) 263-KOHL (5645).

Although we are perfect just the way we are, it’s always fun to improve oneself by learning something new (or re-learning something you mastered years ago and have since forgotten). There is no better way to get a feel for the UW’s rich intellectual offerings than to read the daily campus calendar (www.today.wisc.edu). There you’ll find an astounding listing of free lectures, brown bag discussions, symposia, forums, and activities. Past presentations have included “Malicious or Maligned? Using Psychology to Interpret Snakes,” “Uzbek Steppe Embroidery: How Women Preserve Cultural Identity,” “The Honey Bee Colony as a Superorganism,” and “Cells Prefer Bumpy Beds: Nanoscale Topographic Cues Modulate Vascular Endothelial Cell Behaviors.” Snakes, embroidery, bees, and itty-bitty cells — and that’s just on a Thursday.

Make a note of Wednesday Nite @ the Lab, a free weekly discussion on the latest in science from UW-Madison researchers. Visit science.wisc.edu for details.

The student-run Distinguished Lecture Series Committee brings nationally known public figures to the Union Theater. Past participants have included writer Molly Ivins, political scientist Howard Zinn, author Sarah Vowell, environmentalist David Suzuki, and Sister Helen Prejean of Dead Man Walking fame. The first batch of tickets is reserved for students, faculty, staff, and Union members, but any remaining tickets are available to the public at no charge the Thursday before each lecture. Visit www.union.wisc.edu/DLS for details.

If you have children to entertain, a stop at the Geology Museum in Weeks Hall (free admission) is a winner. From dinosaurs to dolomite, the museum will captivate. You can touch rocks from a time when there were volcanoes in Wisconsin and stand under the tusks of a mastodon while imagining yourself in the Ice Age.

Children will also enjoy the Dairy Cattle Instruction and Research Center, where they can watch the university’s dairy herd being milked from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. daily.

Maybe we can’t go home again, but we can go back to school. If your visit to campus will last through a semester, here is a chance to really get to know your old stomping grounds by auditing a class. Coordinated by Continuing Studies, the program’s qualifications and restrictions are simple. Wisconsin residents sixty and older may audit certain classes for free. You fill out some forms, then seek permission from the instructor to attend, providing space is available. You won’t actively participate, write papers, or take exams (phew!), although regular attendance is expected.

It’s true there is no such thing as a free lunch, but keeping your engine stoked for $5 can be done — if you order specials. One of the best deals is found at the delis run by the Wisconsin Union. For $4.75, you get a sandwich and three sides. Find the delis wherever your wanderings take you: both unions, the Health Sciences Learning Center, Engineering Hall, Veterinary Medicine, Medical Sciences, Microbial Sciences, and Ingraham Hall.

For something hot, the Memorial Union’s Lakefront on Langdon offers a slice of pizza, salad bar, and a soda for $4.95. Union South’s food court offers a hot lunch special, small salad bar, and beverage for $4.95; or choose a wrap combo for the same price.

Even more economical fare can be found during the warm months, when the brat stand at the Union Terrace sells brats, burgers, chicken sandwiches, and hot dogs.

The Rathskeller offers a breakfast special for less than $5 daily from 7:00 to 10:30 a.m., and hot sandwiches for lunch and dinner, also less than $5. The Red Oak Grill at Union South has substantial sandwiches in our price range as well.

Dining in the residence halls is not just for students, and it’s a bargain hunter’s dream come true with the Cafeteria Cash Meal Deal, which features a daily menu item for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all in the $3 to $7 range. The deals are available in the dining halls in Liz Waters, Gordon Commons, Chadbourne Hall, and Frank’s Place in Holt Commons.

Save room (and money) for dessert. Actually, skip lunch if you must. A slice of famous fudge bottom pie is $1.28 plus tax at a residence hall dining room. Two scoops of ice cream at the Babcock Dairy Store will set you back about $3; a large sundae is about $4.

For coffee, choose among coffee shops in residence halls or head to the Open Book Café in College Library, which also offers bakery items, sandwiches, soup, salads, and — believe it or not — sushi. In the library. I never.

And while not officially on campus, the fruit stand on Library Mall in front of the University Book Store provides fruits, trail mixes, nuts, and some of the most cheerful service anywhere. Here you’ll easily get your daily servings of fruit and have money to spend on ice cream.

Or beer. It’s a popular reason for joining the Wisconsin Union: only members may buy beer. The selection includes national brands and microbrews and is priced accordingly.

We’ve done an excellent job of living within our means, don’t you think? But a few extra five spots would put us in Trump territory. My editors didn’t say I couldn’t earn extra money to put toward our adventures. Bwa ha ha! But, how to pick up some cash, fast?

If you’re not shy and can play an instrument, sing, tell jokes, or juggle, give it a whirl on State Street. Review those Gordon Lightfoot lyrics and open up the guitar case. Put in a few starter bills. Look soulful. Take requests and watch the money stack up.

Or, become a research subject for a study on campus. For example, a recent study at the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience caught my eye: “We are interested in how different people make different economic decisions. ... You will be asked to complete forms and play simple decision-making games over the Internet with other people. ... [You] will have an opportunity to make between $5 and $100.”

Really? Where do I sign up? After spending time in front of a computer, I walked away with $15 in my sweaty little paw. Feeling flush, I offer the following entertainments that exceed our $5, but not by much.

For a mere $11, you can attend one of the selections in the Faculty Concert Series at the School of Music. Our world-class faculty perform for a pittance of what you’d pay elsewhere.

Music Hall, where performing arts began on campus, is home to University Opera. Performances are held in the Carol Rennebohm Auditorium, a 380-seat theater lovingly renovated in 1985. Tickets are $18.

If you want thrills, for $15, you can’t beat the 180-voice Choral Union in performance with the UW Orchestra in Mills Hall at the Mosse Humanities Building.

The greats have been on stage at the Wisconsin Union Theater since 1939. Classical, jazz, and world music, along with travel films, promise to thrill. Concert tickets start at about $20. Visit www.uniontheater.wisc.edu for a schedule.

So you think you can dance? In 1926, UW-Madison became the first university in the country to offer a degree in dance. Performances by faculty, students, and guest artists are held throughout the year in Lathrop Hall. Tickets are $10 to $15. Visit www.dance.wisc.edu for details.

If the play’s the thing for you, head to Vilas Communication Hall for a performance in the Ronald E. Mitchell or Gilbert V. Hemsley theaters. Tickets are $14 to $20. Visit www.theatre.wisc.edu for more information.

You joined the Wisconsin Union when you graduated, right? No? It’s not too late. Union membership entitles you to discounts, admission to events, use of rooms, and you can even rent a canoe ($8.50 an hour, $25.50 for the day). Head to the Union South Games Room to improve your hand-eye coordination in friendly competition with a wholesome round of Ping-Pong or pool ($5.75 per hour) or bowling ($3.20 per person per game).

We’ve only just begun to explore campus here; there’s no limit to the things to see and do. But my editors are as tight with a word count as they are with a quarter. And for heaven’s sake, if you get lost in your wanderings, please ask directions. You’ll find the same open friendliness you remember from when you were a student. Even if you don’t get lost, start a conversation with a stranger. The most memorable parts of a journey are often the people you meet along the way.

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Gwen Evans, a senior university relations specialist for University Communications, is author of Madison Restaurant Guide and Madison: The Guide. This is her first story for On Wisconsin.