While the accommodation problem, which was frequently brought up by university students last year, was wanted to be solved this year, a ward system was introduced to the dormitories. In some dormitories, rooms for 4 people have been converted into rooms for 6 or even 8 people. The new room layout, which was introduced to increase the quota rate in the dormitories, drew reaction from the students. It was noteworthy that the space in the rooms was significantly reduced.
QUANTITY HAS INCREASED WITH NEW BUNK BEDS
The economic crisis that started with the pandemic also affected the housing life of the students. Students turned to Credit and Dormitories Institution (KYK) dormitories against the increase in rental prices and the exorbitant price hikes of private dormitories. On the subject of insufficient quota in KYK dormitories, which was frequently on the agenda last year, the Ministry of Youth and Sports increased the quota by adding new bunk beds to the rooms. In this case, a 4-person room was arranged as 6-person, and in some dormitories, 8-person. The fact that the rooms have a very narrow living space with bunk beds drew attention.
THE APPLIED SYSTEM TO INCREASE THE QUOTA DREW REACTION
Mehmet Kasapoğlu, Minister of Youth and Sports, said in a speech, “Our dormitory capacity has exceeded 800,000. It is the highest capacity in the history of the Republic”. Kasapoğlu stated that new dormitories were opened and some dormitories were repaired, and he did not provide information about the bunk beds added to the rooms in some dormitories. While this situation draws the reaction of the students against the new quota created by the increase in the number of bunk beds in the rooms, the students who cannot settle in the KYK dormitory are sentenced to private dormitories with annual fees of up to 100,000 Turkish Liras (TL).
STUDENTS LIKEN ROOMS TO PRISONS
While it was stated that in some dormitories, 3-person rooms were made for 6 people with the added bunk beds, the students noted that the 4-person rooms were also converted to 6 or even 8 people, and that the rooms were narrow. Against this application, which was made to increase the quotas a little more, the students showed their opinions on social media. In the reactions, they compared the dorm rooms to prisons and tried to bring the situation to the agenda with the photos they shared from the dorm rooms.