Students under high pressure; From less food to more expensive accommodation

Universities are more and more shying away from providing welfare and living services to students, and the economic pressure is making "student life" more difficult every day than yesterday.

The beginning of the new academic year for the students of major universities in the capital, not with academic concerns, which is accompanied by the direct impact of inflation costs on their daily lives; From the doubling of accommodation rates in overcrowded and dilapidated dormitories to the shrinking of the food basket, the increase in food prices, and the double pressure on night and year students.

Narratives of students from Tehran, Sharif, Allameh Tabatabai and Al-Zahra universities show that even with the suspension of the implementation of the "New Nutrition Plan" which, according to the report of the "Majlis Research Center", contained the logic of commoditizing welfare services, this logic is rapidly flowing in the management of universities. Universities are more and more shying away from providing welfare and living services to students, and the economic pressure is making "student life" more difficult every day than yesterday. Attempts to talk with the officials of the Ministry of Science failed, and as per the tradition of this period of administration, the public relations of the Ministry of Science refused to provide explanations.

"Zahra" is an undergraduate student at "Tehran University". This year, he has been transferred to the building 71 of "Chamran Dormitory Complex" at the end of North Kargar Street and says that although the quality of student food has improved to some extent, changing the method of food distribution has become costly for students: "Last year, food was distributed in disposable containers, but this year we have to come with a personal container and if we want a disposable container, it is an additional fee."

According to him, the meals are still limited to lunch and dinner, and the dedicated nutrition allowances have a deep gap with the real needs of students to provide for their daily lives: "The allowance for purchasing Pegah dairy products is 600,000 tomans per week, which does not provide enough in any way. Recently, even these bans were disabled for a day or two and only free shopping was possible from the store. The problem here is that this quota is only for dairy products; We don't eat fruit, and this lack has made the children's bodies weak, and in a 20-meter room, disease keeps spreading among all of us."

The sanitary conditions of Chamran dormitory are also not suitable. "Zahra" says: "The ceiling of the toilets is constantly leaking and the water that is falling does not look clean at all. Worse is the kitchen ceiling, where right in the middle of the place where cooking and washing are done, water is pouring from the ceiling of unknown origin onto the students' food utensils. This situation has been going on for about a week."

He says about the bitter experience of his roommates when they went to the university authorities: "When the well was clogged and they brought power, the dormitory supervisor blamed the children instead of fixing the problem and complained that you were throwing sanitary items into the well."

This deterioration and non-standardization occurs while the cost of accommodation has almost doubled: "In the Golestan system, the cost of accommodation, which was about 700 thousand tomans for the lower level dormitory last semester, has reached about 1 million 300 thousand tomans for this semester; That means the costs have almost doubled." Regarding the condition of the dormitory rooms, he says: "The room we received has only three tables and three chairs, and one of the beds on the upper floor does not even have a protective railing, and my roommate feels that he might fall every night. Originally, our room was for four people, but six people have been accommodated in it. The crisis of access to university medical services is another serious challenge.

Referring to the experience of going to the 16 Azar clinic in the central campus of Tehran University, "Zahra" says: "Our dormitory does not have a doctor. For a simple cold, despite the insurance and student discount, 900,000 tomans was left on me for medicine and treatment, because things like bed covers and alcohol were included separately in the prescription, even though they were not used.

Worse, due to the carelessness of the doctor and the lack of examination of the history, drugs were prescribed that interfered with my psychiatric drugs, and my work dragged on to stomachache and chest pain, and two days later I had to go to the same clinic again.

The geographical location of the dormitory, which is located at the end of North Kargar and is far from the metro lines, has created a double financial pressure for night commuting: "University services from the central campus to the dormitory are only active until 18:30. After that hour, it is very difficult to access the nearest subway and the cost of SNAP on this route reaches 200 thousand tomans. Apart from the cost, the darkness and insecurity of the road at the end of the street at the end of the night is also worrying for our families and ourselves.

Finally, the economic pressures along with the drop in welfare services of the university have forced him to strictly manage his expenses: "Last year, if a professor introduced a book, I would buy it, but this year I can't even afford university textbooks; If it is not a PDF file, I have to print only the few pages that are taught. From food and entertainment to university books and personal books, I have had to minimize everything."

"Hossein" is a master's student of Sanati Sharif University. He says that the quality of food has improved in the nutrition department: "The quality of food has improved compared to the last semester, but the reason is that the university does not have gas and cooking is not done in the university itself, but they supply ready-made food from outside." The approved price of food for regular students is about 35 thousand tomans, but for senior students, about 50 thousand tomans are charged, which is still an affordable figure compared to the open market.

However, accommodation and dormitory conditions are the main problem. "Hussein" informs about the imposition of excess capacity on the rooms: "The rooms that are equipped for four people, are now forced to accommodate six people; This means that the children have to provide a list of six people and practically two people sleep on the floor in the room. From a financial point of view, for those of us who are seniors, the cost of the dormitory is about 1.5 times and has reached about 1,600,000 Tomans. While for non-senior students, it is around one million tomans. Meanwhile, for the summer semester, around 540,000 Tomans were paid, as a result, the cost of the Jahesh dormitory has almost doubled."

He says about the slow process of improving and preparing the dormitories: "Our dormitory has three blocks. In the summer, two blocks were completely evacuated and the children were temporarily sent to the third block with the promise that the rooms would be repaired and the carpets washed. But despite this opportunity of several months, until one week to 10 days after the beginning of the semester, the rooms were still not ready, some rooms did not have carpets and the equipment was incomplete. However, it was finally settled after a delay. The support package and breakfast bins have also become smaller in line with the rising prices.

This student says: "Before, nearly 300,000 Tomans were paid to top up the breakfast bin, and it was possible to buy as much as 1 million Tomans." In the new semester, the cost of each bin has decreased to 180,000 Tomans for senior students and 120,000 Tomans for normal students. On the other hand, the purchase limit has been set a little higher than one million Tomans, as a result, with the increase in costs, the price of a bin has not increased. But the key point is limiting the variety of products in the supermarket. Distribution items have been greatly reduced and limited to milk, cheese, cream and breakfast chocolate; Whereas before, products such as oil and tea could also be purchased, which have now been removed.

In response to the impact of these policies on his daily life, "Hossein" says: "University services are not enough for daily living. Previously, these supports were enough to cover the expenses, but now with the jump in prices, the lifestyle has completely changed. When other expenses rise, the first thing to be eliminated is going out and having fun. We cut all the side expenses so that we can only cover the main and necessary expenses such as daily food.

Increasing pressure on senior students

"Hasna" is one of the union activists of "Allameh Tabatabai" University. He says that in the field of nutrition, the most important change in his university is the direct deposit of credits from the welfare fund to the account of the supplying companies and the removal of the financial intervention of the university in the allocation of funds: "The new nutrition plan was supposed to be implemented, but it was canceled, but its structural consequences remained. The welfare fund gives the credit directly to the contractor and no money goes to the university for managing the loan. A reputable company has taken over the food supply of most universities in Tehran, and the universities themselves have a separate supplier; But because the university's hands are tied in the budget, we see the volume of meals halved compared to the previous year. The quality of Allameh's food was already good and the same quality has been maintained, but the amount of food has been halved and the cinnamon rolls have been completely removed due to the lack of funds.

The accommodation situation in the dormitories has also become more critical for a large part of the student body. While the approved dormitory rate for day students has remained constant at two million and 500 thousand Tomans per semester, but the access to dormitories for other groups has been severely limited: "Night and year students actually have a much lower chance of getting a dormitory, and the accommodation process has become extremely difficult for them; As long as the university introduces free city dormitories to night students who are not covered by the capacity, which have heavy costs.

Referring to the high density of the rooms, he points to the university's failure to fulfill its promises: "Two years ago, the Minister of Science and university officials visited the Allameh dormitories, especially the girls' dormitories, and a promise was made to deal with the high density, but this crisis has not been resolved, and about eight students are still accommodated in a 35-meter room, which has caused many difficulties, especially in the girls' dormitories." The change in the breakfast support packages has also led to the reduction of the students' food basket: "Last year, the breakfast ration was distributed in the form of a food basket, it had many items, and the children could receive things such as oil, tomato paste, and eggs once every two months, along with the breakfast items; But this year, this quota is completely limited to corporate dairy products.

"Hasna" says that there is a positive point in the treatment department: "University clinics are still active and the positive event of this semester was the establishment of a clinic inside the dormitory complex. However, due to the dispersion of Allameh University, the transportation services of the campuses are facing delays and shortages, making it difficult for children to travel. "Hasna" finally says that the welfare services of the university do not cover the costs in any way: "Life has become much more difficult for night and year students and the costs have increased.

Even daily students cannot manage their expenses with the existing services. Today, students almost always have to work in order to be able to afford the basic costs of university and dormitory; A heavy burden that has overshadowed the main mission of student life".