The price of college keeps going up, but it’s not just tuition running up the bill, it’s meal plans, too.In Part 2 of a Channel 4 Action News investigation, Jim Parsons continues his look into how colleges are profiting from dining dollars at the expense of students and their families.Related link: Read Part 1 of Jim's Report“A young man or young woman's future should not begin with a mountain of debt,” Gov. Tom Corbett said earlier this month.Corbett’s words should resonate with college students and their parents, as should these words from the head of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.“Many of the students who attend our universities are the first members of their families to attend college. They come from working families where parents often work multiple jobs, so their sons and daughters have this opportunity. We owe them our best effort,” said Guido Pichini, PASSHE Board of Governors chairman.But Parsons’ investigation found those working families are losing some of their hard-earned money every semester in the form of dining dollars, known as flex dollars at some schools.Dining dollars are paid for at the beginning of a semester and placed on a debit card. Trouble is, if students don't use them, they lose them.“Anything you save that you don't use is left in the bank, if you will,” explained Slippery Rock University President Cheryl Norton.And that bank is actually the university.“I don’t really like it,” said student Scott Bowman of the “use it or lose it” policy.“It would be a lot better if it carried over or you could get the money back,” said Tyler Myers, of Albany, N.Y.“I think it could definitely be improved so that it carries over into the next semester,” student Sarah Pomfret echoed.At four local state-owned universities between 2008 and 2011, students who failed to spend all of their flex dollars forfeited more than $366,000.Norton said students do have an opportunity to use up flex dollars.“We know that at the end of the year, we try to provide students with the sale of products if they would like to buy additional provisions,” said Norton.“To use up the flex dollars?” Parsons asked.“To use up the flex dollars, if they would like,” Norton continued.But the price of those provisions can be high.At the University of Pittsburgh's Quick Zone convenience store, students rush in at the end of each semester to use up their dining dollars.They’ll pay $6 a box for Kashi GoLean cereal. At a nearby CVS, the same cereal was on sale at two for $6. QuickZone charged $3.49 for a quart of Silk almond milk. It costs $3.09 at CVS.While Quick Zone charged $3.89 for a box of Tampax, they were 60 cents cheaper down the street at 7-Eleven.But students aren't allowed to use their dining dollars at 7-Eleven or CVS.When asked if she was leaving any unused money on her cards, Slippery Rock University student Lindsay Werkheiser told Parsons, “Oh yeah, definitely, 100 percent.”Slippery Rock students said they have no idea what they forfeited in flex dollars last semester, but it was a lot.“I left a bunch of meals on there, a bunch of flex,” Werkheiser said.“Why don't you go use up your flex dollars?” Parsons asked.“Because that would be so much money that I have to use up, like, I would have to buy so much food to use it up,” Werkheiser explained.