Poor students share their struggle

VietNamNet Bridge – The escalation of tuition and prices have put even heavier burdens on students’ shoulders. At a time when studying should be their primary concern, university students must worry about basic needs like food and housing, plus tuition costs.

Nguyen Thanh Luan has decided to withdraw from Hong Bang University in HCM City.

“I have given up. The tuition has become unaffordable. My parents cannot afford to cover my learning expenses,” he stated.

Stressed out students

Le Thi Chau Huyen feels happy that she has been accepted at Van Hien University, but worries that she may not have enough money.

“I thought that the tuition would be the same as the previous year. I could not imagine that the tuitions would increase so sharply,” Huyen recalled. “I came to the university with 5 million dong and I returned home with just 300,000 dong.”

Most private and state-owned universities have raised the tuitions for the 2009-2010 school year.

Saigon International University has set a “sky-high” tuition level of 100 million dong per year, followed by the HCM City Economics and Finance University (45 million dong per annum), Hoa Sen (19..5 million dong per annum), Hong Bang (14 million dong per annum) and Van Lang (9 million dong per annum).

Some universities have increased tuition two-fold. Hong Bang University, for example, required 4.6 million dong in previous years, but tuition for 2009-2010 is now 8 million dong.

A lot of students must study at such expensive universities, because they have no chance to enroll at more economical institutions. Students protest that they do not know where they can earn enough money to stay in HCM City for four years.

The instant noodle generation

The consumer price index has frightened many students

The consumer price index has frightened many students. Le Minh Tam, a second year student of the College of Foreign Economic Relations, calculated that in previous years, 700,000 dong per month was enough for rent and meals.

Returning to HCM City after the summer holiday, higher rental prices shocked university students, she observed.

“The rent was just 1.2 million dong per room in summer, but now it has soared to 1.5 million dong. Landlords all claimed that they raised the rent because of higher petrol prices,” declared Nguyen Minh Thuy from IT College.

Sharing a 16 square meter room with other five students, Ngo Thi Kim Hue admitted that it is very hot and inconvenient. However, she still has to stay there, because it would be more costly to stay in more comfortable rooms.

“Previously, we spent 7,000 dong only for a meal, but now we have to pay 10,000 dong and we are never full,” Hue contended.

She maintained that students do not always have breakfast because they want to save money for school. Many of them only eat instant noodles for several months.

Lucky students find part-time jobs earning 500-700,000 dong a month, which helps them to survive their difficult days at universities.

VietNamNet/VnMedia