Yeni təhsil müddətindən əvvəl məktəblərdə qiymət kabusu: Valideynlər ümidsizdirlər!

The new academic year officially begins for millions of students with the first class bell ringing on Monday. However, just a few days before the school doors opened, parents faced a huge economic burden. Price increases in all areas of education, from stationery to clothing, from service fees to school canteens, seriously strain family budgets. Research and current data reveal that school shopping costs have increased at exorbitant rates compared to last year.

Exorbitant Price Sector in Stationery and Private School Packages

Before the new semester, the cost of meeting a student's most basic stationery needs such as bags, notebooks, pencils, water bottles and lunch boxes is almost prohibitive. The basic stationery shopping basket, which last year ranged between 1,900 and 2,000 TL, reached the level of 2,500 to 3,000 TL this year, with an increase of approximately 25-30 percent. While parents struggle with these increases, the additional costs in private schools have reached a completely different dimension. Although private schools are strictly prohibited by the Ministry of National Education (MEB) from demanding additional fees from parents in the name of textbooks, some institutions circumvent this ban with the "stationery package" formula. Fees requested by private schools that include books and educational materials in these packages start from 50 thousand TL and can go up to 200 thousand TL.

Toast and Ayran Menu in Canteens Is Affordable

The new ceiling price tariff to be applied in school canteens has recently been clarified, but the figures determined will shake the budgets of parents and students. The price of toast and ayran, which is the most consumed by students during the day, increased from 90 TL to 130 TL this year. According to the new tariff, bagels will be sold at canteens for 30 TL, and bagels and pastries will be sold for 35 TL. While the price of half a liter of water was determined as 15 TL, the price of a glass of tea was determined as 25 TL, while the price of chicken doner reached 145 TL. In this case, if a student only buys a piece of toast and ayran and consumes water and tea during the day, his minimum daily expenditure is 170 TL. Although the Turkish Canteen Operators Federation claims that they applied an increase of around 6.2 percent in prices for the year 2026-2027, it seems that the real increase rate for many basic products in the canteen exceeds 40 percent.

Service and Clothing Inflation Made Parents Revolt

Back to school costs are not limited to stationery and canteens. While the increase in school uniforms and clothing costs reached 15 percent, one of the biggest increases was in school buses. Service fees have increased by 25-30 percent this year. Although ceiling price tariffs have been determined by the authorized chambers and municipalities in each province, it is stated that many schools and bus companies ignore these legal limits and demand much higher fees. Failure to comply with the official tariffs and insufficient inspections further increases the reaction of parents who are crushed under the burden of school expenses.