Inflation leads more students to resort to social meals

For many students, the solution is through the school canteens, where a meal includes soup, a dish and fruit.

The increase in prices is leading students to resort more to canteens, such as the “Cantina Velha” at the University of Lisbon, which served around 400 meals a day and now has around 1.600.

In the canteens of the University of Lisbon (UL), the price of a meal costs 2,80 euros, that is, «it is cheaper than a meal cooked at home», Helder Semedo, from the UL General Council, told Lusa.

According to Helder Semedo, there is an increase in the number of meals sold, with emphasis on Cantina Velha: In 2019, before the pandemic, that cafeteria located in the university town «served between 400 and 500 meals a day and now around 1.600», he revealed.

Inflation is also affecting the lives of students "who complain that before they paid around 60 cents for a can of tuna and now they pay 1,5 euros", he said.

Tuna is just one example of the recent rise in prices, as the value of the food basket has increased by 22% over the last year. If in February last year, a basket cost 184 euros, the same basket is now around 230 euros, according to DECO accounts released this week.

For many students, the solution is through the school canteens, where a meal includes soup, a dish and fruit. Helder Semedo revealed that even microwaves, which used to be used a lot, are now rarely used.

The Academic Association of the University of Lisbon (AAUL) has already received some requests for help, according to the president of AAUL, Afonso Garcia.

«The cost of living for a student in Lisbon is much higher than in other cities, but the truth is that the situation is also more difficult in Porto and Coimbra», he said.

Lusa contacted the Associação Académica do Porto (FAP) which represents 70 students and confirmed that the situation is similar.

“Some requests for help have arrived”, said the FAP president, warning of the likelihood of a “reality hidden by the stigma”: “Certainly there are cases that do not reach us because of the shame of asking for help”, said Ana Gabriela Cabilhas.

«The increase in prices is felt by students in the supermarket, in foods such as meat, dairy products, eggs, cereals, frozen or canned food», he said.

In addition to more students looking for meals at social prices, in Porto there has also been an increase in the “queues for the microwaves” of students who, probably, previously had lunch out.

According to the president, «there is an increase in the difficulties to bear the costs associated with attending higher education compared to last year, but also in relation to the previous semester».

Ana Gabriela Cabilhas recalled that the available budget of families «is decreasing, while attendance costs are increasing».

«The cost of food in the supermarket has increased, expenses with housing and electricity have increased, but also with study materials, such as architecture and fine arts courses, which already force students to have to make choices about which materials to use. give up buying», he exemplified.

Faced with the pressure of rising inflation, it is also observed in the household, which «has to reduce expenses to allow the children to continue studying. And this, in turn, causes anguish in students», he underlined.

The situation could get worse, in the next school year, if the Government does not change the current legislation, which defines that the value of meals in canteens is indexed to the IAS (Social Support Index).

«The IAS has increased and if the Government does not proceed with legislative measures, meals may double in September», warned Helder Semedo.

Both the AAUL and the AFP carried out surveys among students in 2022, which revealed that there was a high percentage of young people struggling to pay the bills and an equally high number of students who had already considered dropping out of school.

On average, between 10 and 12% of 1st year students drop out of school, according to official data.

Added to these are the figures for access to higher education, which revealed that this year more than 10% of the students who entered the first phase of the competition did not enroll, that is, more than 5.000 students placed did not complete their registration.

There are no studies on the reasons for not accepting the vacancy, but Afonso Garcia believes that in many cases financial issues were decisive.



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