Was the promise of a good university a lie?

As much as I enjoy being a Golden Bear and attending UC Berkeley, I have questioned whether the administrators behind the university solely have education as a goal. In a terse phrase, college is too expensive.
Many of my friends sought out community college as an alternative to paying 30 thousand dollars a year for their college education. I thought I could cut costs somehow, if I could get a better job someday. But the truth is that the bills that the university is charging to my account are ridiculous. My first year, I lived in a tiny room on the 3rd floor in one of the six unit 1 buildings, and shared the small space with two roommates. For the entire two semesters, the total came to 13000. This did not include the monopolistic micro101 fridge company who never returned our deposit money and charged me 2 times what was stated on their website. (fyi, if you go to cal, do NOT rent a fridge from them.) We weren't even allowed to bring our own fridges and microwaves, and had to rent from this so-called supplier. Sure, apartments in Berkeley did have higher than average rents per month, but it still did not come down to 13000 for the time I spent in the dorm buildings. I am frustrated at how the University is trying to make more money off of those who choose to live in dorm buildings, and it was "highly recommended" and said that almost everyone lives in the dorms their first year. (and of course, the thoughts immediately led to not wanting to live in the apartments to be an outsider for my first year)
Another issue is insurance. They require us to have SHIP insurance, and we can waive out of it if we can fill out a form online proving that we already have our own insurance. The only problem is that the majority of the students fill out the form, and the website denies the waiver. Here I am, being a second year, and I am still being charged 1000 something for an insurance I don't need.
Am I frustrated? perhaps. But I feel like these roadblocks definitely hit some people even harder. What to do, what to do.

McDonalds meat scandal vs Chinese Government

Any web surfer has probably gotten a hold of the news about how the suppliers provided out of date meat to fast food brands such as KFC and McDonalds. As an Asian-American who travels back to China every three years or so, I was pretty concerned with the idea that something was wrong with all the fast food I ate back then. I am still worried about this even though I am living in the Bay Area. I have a habit of eating out at McDonalds once a week instead of having chinese food for dinner, and I just bought two big mac meals yesterday (one for my brother).
I feel bad for the employees who were detained in China. To be honest, all the street food and many restaurant foods in China probably have the same problem. It's just that the supplier for McDonalds was caught because McDonalds is a large fast food corporation, which means the government would probably look closer into an international corporation and close their eyes when it comes to street vendors. Have you ever heard of all the oil that street vendors pick up on the streets and use in frying their stinky tofu? Sure, but you don't see the government detaining them for using extremely disgusting ways of making food.
People are making a big deal out of this McDonalds situation, and the government has no choice but to respond to it. But why can't the government in China pay attention to all the street food that caters to even more of their population?

3 Dollar Zara Bag New With Tags

Today I had a surprise at my doorstep and it made me so happy. 

As an 18 year old, I go on three websites like a daily ritual: nordstrom, urban outfitters and 6pm. But it's not very easy to find 80% off deals on items that I like. Popular items such as the Longchamp Le Pliage bag, Michael Kors watch, Jeffrey Campbell boots, Birkenstocks, (the list goes on) barely go on sale and I usually only buy items that are on sale (Asian ^_^).

Recently, I use instagram to usually see what good deals other people are getting. I usually type in hashtag #nordstromrack or #ulta to see if there is anything worth a trip to the store for. Recently, one user, who finds deals from nordstrom rack and posts them on her instagram, began using another online website called thredup. Initially, I saw that the website said it was a secondhand store, selling things that were "practically new." My mom always tells me thrifting and purchasing secondhand items are not sanitary, and so I didn't think much of the online store of pre-owned items. But I was bored a week ago, and decided to look closely at this website, and I found some pretty amazing deals. I added to my cart a zara bag that was new with tags for 17.99. Thredup also had some offers such as 40% off your first order or 20$ off your purchase if you use a friend's link. So, I ended up paying only shipping for a brand new zara bag that was originally 99.90$. I paid only 2.99$!

The Green Box from Thredup

I didn't understand how thredup could possibly be making any profit if customers like me purchased something close to the 20$ and paid only shipping each time. My mom, on the other hand, had received an email from the founder of thredup the following day, asking what improvements could be made to the website and why she ended up not purchasing any item with her 40% off offer. I am interested in how this business is run. I see how reaching out to customers who did not purchase seems like Thredup would contain a closer-knit customer seller relationship, if you compare it to a large department store such as Nordstrom or Macys. But such a small business, I am wondering if they are giving these 20$ off codes and 40% off offers to initially attract a larger crowd of customers, and build a larger customer base. I'm sure other girls must have raved about their amazing deals when they show them to their friends. Hmm..I guess it's their way of marketing.

Faux fur on the sides of the bag