VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of “initiatives” have been applied by students in order to help students cut down expenses in the price storm: preparing meals themselves instead of going out to eat, going to school on bicycles instead of motorbikes.

“Before I did not get up so early. However, I have no other choice now,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hang, a second year student of the Hanoi Trade University, related that previously, she could buy enough food for two meals with 30,000 dong. However, with the same sum of money, Hang cannot buy enough food for one meal.

Like Anh, Hang also gets up early to go to the vegetable market, which allows her to save 100,000 dong a month.

A group of students of the Trade University have decided to gather money to prepare meals together. “My parents can only give me 1.3 million dong a month. Therefore, I have to think of something to cut down expenses. Sharing meals helps us save up money,” a student said.

“It is more fun to have lunches and dinners together,” another student, from the Tourism College, said.

A lot of changes have occurred with the breakfasts of students. Thu Hang, a student from the Hanoi Law University said previously, she always paid 3000 dong for steamed glutinous rice for breakfast. However, the seller has raised her price to 5000 dong.

Nguyen Thi Thuy, a student, who lives at Me Tri Dormitory, also complained that as everything is getting more and more expensive, she dares not spend too much money on breakfasts.

Nguyen The Tan Truong from the Hanoi University of Technology, said that he still has to go to rice shops. Truong does not have to pay more for the meals, but he knows he has less food for meals. “I am not full up with just 15,000 dong. Therefore, I always have to buy loafs of bread to eat at night,” he said.

Even the students from well-off families also say they have to cut down expenses to reserve money for studying. Duc Anh, a fourth year student of a private school related that previously, he went to cafés three or four times a week, but he has to give up the habit, and now he and his friends to go street tea shops on the sidewalk.

Especially, the students, who have girlfriends, complain that they have to try to cut down “love fee”. “Every time, after going out with the girlfriend, I have to draw up the plans to cut down expenses on other things,” said Nam, a fourth year student of the Journalism and Communication Academy.

In this difficult period, motorbikes have become redundant to many students, while bicycles have become the favorite.

Manh Dung, a student of the Hanoi Open University, said that last month he brought his motorbike back home, because he has decided to go to school by bicycle. “It is very costly to “feed” the motorbike. I have to pay 50,000 dong a week for petrol, while the parking fee alone would cost 3000 dong each time,” Dung said.

His parents give him two million dong a month, a considerably large sum of money for a family in the countryside. However, the sum of money is not much in big cities, where everything is very expensive.

Hai Ha, a student of the Civil Engineering University, also said that traveling by bicycle allows him to save 500,000 dong a month.

Tuyet Ngan