Fayez Abu Eid – Action Group
Palestinian students in the Syrian province of Daraa face significant challenges in their pursuit of higher education, amid difficult economic conditions and rising tuition costs.
The high costs of studying:
These students bear the brunt of the suffering. Some study in the city of Daraa, which houses some of the theoretical faculties affiliated with the University of Damascus, such as Arabic, English, law, economics, science, mathematics, sociology, and psychology. Students in these departments spend no less than 800,000 Syrian pounds if they decide to attend daily. As a result, many prefer to limit themselves to attending one or two days a week, while students in the scientific branches are forced to go to the University of Damascus and other universities.
financial difficulties
During my conversation with some Palestinian students from Jaleen about the financial and moral hardships they endure in their studies, (N.N.), a student at the Faculty of Architecture at Damascus University, mentioned that in addition to transportation costs, she needs four drawing boxes per week, each costing 5,000 liras, in addition to the drawing kit that students buy at the beginning of the school year.
Explaining that, considering drinks or a sandwich, which some might consider a luxury, they are considered expenses for architecture students, added to the total expenses, especially since an architecture student spends all day in studios. These high expenses have prompted many students to shorten their attendance to two days a week.
This was confirmed by (A.S.), a student at the Faculty of Agriculture at Al-Baath University, who said that he needs 200,000 Syrian pounds every time he goes to university, including transportation costs and eating a sandwich with a cup of tea, without taking into account the costs of university lectures. He added, “I go to university only on the days designated for practical training in order to save expenses, and on the rest of the days I work in agricultural workshops in Jallin to cover my university expenses, and on top of that I work throughout the summer to help my family with part of my expenses.”
Housing insurance problems
In this context, Muhammad, a dental student at the University of Aleppo, explained his frustration at his struggle to secure housing. University campuses are overcrowded, with the number of students per room sometimes reaching  five people. This overcrowding negatively impacts student comfort and is inconsistent with the ability to provide a comfortable study environment.
Pointing out that the housing conditions in most of the units are very poor, he added, “We receive some rooms that have no windows, doors, electrical outlets, or lighting, and if there are doors, they don’t have locks. This has forced me to rent with four other students in order to secure a study environment, forcing me to pay 400,000 liras with demands for more. However, the idea of renting seems better than living in it.”
Transportation challenges
University students’ suffering is not limited to… but extends to the difficulty of commuting from rural areas to universities, as well as the high costs of private transportation, which can sometimes exceed university tuition fees.
“Q.G., a third-year IT engineering student at Qasioun University, confirmed that the problem lies in the unreasonable high prices. University fees increase by 100% every year, and new students will pay 14 million university fees without a transportation fee, and transportation is considered a special fee that increases every semester. Perhaps this is the problem he suffers from, as he is from Jleeb and transportation does not serve the countryside but rather the city center, so he is forced to contract with a private bus, and these buses exploit the student so that the price multiplies many times, and he is always unable to attend the first lecture, and is forced to leave before the start of the last lecture. He revealed to us that in order to secure these fees, residents are forced to sell their cars or lands, stressing his surprise at the transportation fees that double to become higher than the university fee,”
Financial burdens on families
At the same time, a student (M.M., who was studying at the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Aleppo) said that he “dropped out of school in his second year and is collecting money in a desperate attempt to emigrate outside Syria, because studying today is no longer financially viable, and its cost is greater than its benefit,” as he put it.
In the end, the Palestinian students in Jallin are merely an extension of what our students in all Syrian camps are suffering from, which constitutes a major obstacle to their academic achievement and professional future.