The dormitory of Miryang Campus, which stopped providing breakfast this semester, has been involved in the controversy over "poor meals." There were plenty of complaints from the students as they expected the quality of meals would get better if the dormitory stopped providing breakfast. 

On March 1st, the Miryang Campus dormitory of PNU stopped providing breakfast. The restaurant, which provided three meals a day, decided to give only two meals, lunch and dinner (The related article at the bottom, covered on May 19th).

Even so, the food expenses for students to spend has not decreased significantly. According to the "2022 PNU Dormitory Recruitments Guidelines," the daily food expense of the Miryang Campus was 796,400 won (for two meals), which was only 76,160 won less than the daily food expense of 871,650 won (for three meals) last year. The rate of food cost reduction was only 8.6% when a meal per day and 30 meals per month decreased. If we calculate this monthly, it is equivalent to paying about 20,000 won less. 

The price of Miryang dormitory meals is the highest among the three campus dormitories of PNU, and the rate of increase in the price of meals this year is more than three times higher than last year. The meal price, which divided food costs by the number of meals, is 3,620 won, about 18% higher than the 2,970 won, which is the price of a meal at the Busan Campus dormitory. The increased percentage is also significant. It rose about 25.7% from last year's 2,690 won. It is more than three times higher than the previous year's 6.7% increase in meal prices (the meal price in 2020 was 2,510 won).

However, the situation stayed the same or got worse. Students complain about insufficiency in the amount of food provided and the repeated menu. As a result of the coverage, on April 12th, the dormitory provided Saeal Seaweed Soup for dinner and provided Hard Clam Seaweed Soup for the next day's lunch. Moreover, from April 20th to 23rd dinner, Kimchi soup was provided for 3 out of 7 meals. An anonymous student A, living in a dormitory, said, "I am not happy with not providing breakfast, but the quality and quantity of foods for lunch and dinner also stays the same. Didn't the dormitory decide to stop breakfast but offer better meals for lunch and dinner with that money?" Another anonymous student living in the dorm, B, said, "If they stopped the breakfast, they are supposed to manage lunch and dinner properly."

The dormitory explained that reducing the number of providing meals does not resolve the financial difficulties in the first place. The amount of food they need to order and the price for two or three meals are not that different. The nutritionist of the dormitory, Son Hye-Young, said, "We already informed the price of each of the two and three meals at the last year's survey. Students chose to abolish the breakfast meal regardless of the cost."

The dormitory, in addition, clarified that it is challenging to meet the amount of foods regarding the controversy over "poor meals." Nutritionist Son said, "We prepare foods according to the average number of students eating meals, and we give an alternative menu when the students suddenly bundle in. Because there are days when we provide a menu more expensive than the food expense, such as chicken and Samgyetang, there are days that we offer a relatively low-price menu."

As the problems surrounding meals continue over the years, more and more students say that the University Administration should step in. If the cause of "poor meals" is due to chronic financial difficulties in the dormitory, support from the university level is needed. An anonymous student C, living in the dorm, said, "We do not have any restaurants near here, so I think it is an obligation to provide three meals a day. Like students in the Pusan Campus dormitory, we want to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner autonomously." An anonymous student D said, "The everyday number of meals decreased, the price per meal increased, but nothing changed. If the dormitory cannot solve it, the University Administration should support it."

Reporter Kim Min-Sung & Shin Yu-Jun

Translated by Lee Su-Hyun