Turkish students are facing an acute housing crisis as rental prices surge, private dormitories remain costly and state-run dormitories struggle to meet demand, the Artı Gerçek news website reported on Thursday.
With the academic year approaching, many students are desperately hoping to secure a spot in a dormitory run by the Turkish Higher Education Credit and Hostels Institutions (KYK), while others search for affordable housing.
Private dormitory fees in major cities have soared, with costs ranging from 120,000 Turkish lira ($3,534) to 300,000 lira ($8,836) annually. On top of this, dormitories often require deposits equal to one month’s rent. In total, students are paying between 12,000 lira ($350) and 30,000 lira ($880) per month, typically excluding meals.
A student identified only by her first name, Zeynep, currently attending Istanbul University’s faculty of dentistry, applied for a KYK dorm but has little hope of securing a spot. “Given our financial situation in Turkey, my family is on the poverty line,” she said. Her father, a janitor on minimum wage, and her mother, who sells homemade goods, struggle to support her and a sibling still in school.
“Instead of feeling the joy of starting university or the excitement of moving to a new city, I’m left deliberating on how to put a roof over my head,” she said. “Turkey isn’t a place where young people can dream anymore. Forget dreaming, I can’t even see beyond the next month. Will I get a dorm? If not, what will we do?”
Fatih, an environmental engineering student, shares a small apartment with four friends but said they are looking for a fifth roommate to manage rent increases. “We don’t even see sunlight,” he said. “We work between classes just to pay the bills.” Fatih described his situation as “soul-crushing,” surviving on pasta and wheat products to save money.
KYK dorms, housing approximately 876,000 students, are also under pressure. Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak has promised to increase capacity to 1 million beds by the end of 2024. However, many students say the existing dorms are inadequate. Social media is flooded with complaints about poor living conditions.
Seda, a third-year mathematics education major, wants to leave her KYK dorm but can’t find affordable housing. “The food is terrible, there’s nowhere to study,” she said. Half of her scholarship goes to dorm fees.
Student housing has been an ongoing crisis in Turkey for the last few years. A group of university students calling themselves the “We Can’t Shelter” movement staged their first vigil in Istanbul on September 19, 2022, sleeping outdoors in protest of high dormitory and rental prices. The protests then spread among university students in various cities.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan targeted the students during a press conference, saying the protestors “were lying” as there were enough dormitories all across the country.
Despite the president’s statements, students have insisted their living conditions have deteriorated to the point that some students have taken their own lives.
