VietNamNet Bridge – The sharp price increases have been burdening all people, from urbanites to rural areas’ residents, and from workers to students.

The cost of learning

After the Tet holiday, students from other provinces and cities have been flocking to Hanoi, where they will live and attend university entrance exam preparation classes. In the baggage of the students, there are textbooks, clothes, personal effects and the aspirations of passing the university entrance exams. The students will have to do many things in order to turn their dream into reality. But for  they now have to struggle to survive the price storm.

Nguyen Huong Dung from Thanh Hoa related that she is living in a rented room in Phu Do Village in Tu Liem province. The rented room is far from the road and Dung has to walk 600 meters to the bus station. The room is very small, just nine square meters, but she still has to pay 800,000 dong a month for the rent.

“I have been living here for the last three months. Besides the rent of 800,000 dong, I have to pay 60,000 dong for water bill and 100,000 dong for electricity bill. Meanwhile, the room’s owners have warned that the rent will increase the next month,” she complained.

“I want to share the room with someone, but by parents do not agree, because they fear this will badly affect my learning,” she said. “Everything is so expensive here in the city. Food prices are three times higher than in my village. I spend three million dong a month”.

Although Tran Vinh Hoang from Hoa Binh province shares a house with six friends, his rent is still high .  “My house is located near Mo Market in Hai Ba Trung District. We have to pay 4.6 million dong a month for a two storey house with the area of 60 square meters,” he said.

“On average, every of us has to spend 700,000 dong a month for rent, electricity and water, and Internet bills”.

Though Hoang and friends do not go to restaurants and they prepare meals themselves, they still complain about the overly high expenses on food. “I have to pay 800,000 dong a month on food, about 30,000 dong a day,” he said.

Besides living costs, the tuitions for exam preparation classes gobble up most of their money.

“I go to the exam preparation centers run by the Hanoi University of Technology and Hanoi University of Education. I have two sessions per day, and I have to pay 30,000 for each. As such, I have to spend 1.2 million dong a month on tuition,” he concluded.

Nguyen Van Nhien from Hai Duong also complains that everything is too expensive in Hanoi. The tiny room of  8 square meter in Tu Liem district that Nhien shares with a friend costs 800,000 dong a month. Nhien and his friends eat frugal meals daily, but he still has to spend no less than 30,000 dong a day.

Exam preparation classes opened

It is now high business season for exam preparation centers. However, unlike previous years, these days the centers are surprisingly quiet. Thuy, the manager of the exam preparation classes on Nguyen Trai Road in Thanh Xuan district that two weeks after the opening, every class has gathered 20-30 students. It seems that students nowadays would rather stay at home preparing for exams than going far to the big cities.

Since exam preparation centers are still lacking students, the centers’ owners are trying to offer attractive tuitions to attract more candidates. The tuitions are the same with the previous years’ levels, at 20-25,000 dong per session.  The sessions have been scheduled more flexibly so that students can choose the teachers they want.

Pham Xuan Duc from Quoc Oai district in Hanoi said that he thought carefully before deciding to go to a class located near the Hanoi University of Education. “I am glad that classes are not too crowded, because this will allow us to concentrate more on learning,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dung said she spends much time on studying by herself, but she still needs to go to exam preparation classes. The teachers here help me summarize basic knowledge. Besides, they will give me answers to my questions,” she said.

Tuyet Ngan