Hello friends.
Today I ate my lunch in the dining hall of my university. This term my classes are mostly online, so I rarely go to university, which is a shame as the meals are insanely cheap there. I could have saved a lot of money this term if I ate my meals in the dining hall on campus, but I think I'm too lazy to take the bus to go there every day, so I end up ordering takeaway most days.
Luckily, today the menu was quite rich and featured my favorite meals, which made me think about going more often to university to have my meals some days. I stay in a dormitory-like building, so it's not very convenient to cook where I live. Since Turkey is facing hyperinflation nowadays, takeaway prices have also gone up like crazy. Takeaways currently constitute the biggest chunk of my expenses.
I mean, this whole meal costs 4.10 Turkish Liras = 0.28 USD, which is insane. The reason for such low prices is that I study in a public university, so part of the food expenses are supported by the government.
The cost used to be much lower though, around 0.15 USD. The meal prices in dining hall have also gone up a lot in recent years due to the heavy inflation. The meal prices going up so much has caused a lot of backlash among the students, and there were a lot of protests. Even though 0.28 USD may seem insanely cheap, the rate of increase in price from 0.15 USD to 0.28 USD in only few years is concerning, especially considering the dramatic decrease in purchasing power in Turkey.
Interesting, here in Venezuela something similar also happened; food in public universities was free for a while and helped many people with very low incomes… But due to financial sanctions combined with hyperinflation and inadequate macroeconomic planning the food subsidy for public universities is currently pyrrhic.
On the other hand, if a Venezuelan student would decide to go to study in a public university in Turkey and would have to pay the amount of 0.28 $, that student would not bother to pay that amount of money and would not care to protest either; here the salaries are very low and for many Venezuelan families to afford food for the home is still an ordeal.
Greetings from Venezuela.I hope things get better in your homeland. :)
Oh, I hope the food subsidy in Venezuela continues despite the economic problems. Students aren't to blame for all this!
And, thank you for your nice words. I hope things get better there in Venezuela too!
Oh, that looks like a good meal! Yes, USD $0.28 is insanely cheap, as you say. What a great opportunity!
Yes, indeed!!