In student dorms, inflation is being served three times a day
Khaled El-Sayed(*), a media student at Cairo University, has been watching his dinner shrink. Since moving into the university’s main dormitory in Bein El-Sarayat in 2022, he has witnessed portion sizes dwindle—particularly the protein. Vegetables are now doled out in spoonfuls. Yogurt, once a daily staple, is now rationed to Sunday evenings.
Cairo is 218 km from Khaled’s home in Alexandria, and meals are just one part of the cost. The 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about $20) his family sends monthly no longer stretches far. To stay fed, he works part-time alongside his studies.
He is not alone. Several students at Cairo University dorms told Al Manassa that declining food quality and quantity have become a burden. As inflation soars, students are left to improvise.
“What will your roommates eat?”
The main dorm in Bein El-Sarayat is one of three Cairo University facilities and the largest, housing more than 5,700 students. Despite its scale and the sizable plot it occupies, life there comes at the cost of many comforts.
Each student receives a bed in a two-person room barely large enough for their needs. Just two desks with wooden chairs, and either one large wardrobe or two small ones. The dorm lacks wired internet. Conditions are little different in the two women’s dorms, located in Giza and Boulaq.
“There used to be a carton of milk every day. Now it’s just once a week,” Khaled noted.
He has noticed food offerings decline over the years. Yogurt, now reserved for Sunday dinner. Potatoes shrinking at lunch. And if he dares request a little more? The response is often blunt: “What will your roommates eat?”
According to Khaled, such attempts are met with firm rules “I’m allowed to get more rice and vegetables. If I’m lucky, maybe pickles or tahini. But for sure not another piece of protein or fruit.”
Dinner is shrinking
Eyad Abdel Fattah(*), another student, noted similar changes between 2022 and 2025. “It’s dinner that really took the hit. Cheese, yogurt, pâté; they’re all gone now.”
The women’s dorm in Boulaq is no exception. Reem Gamal(*) told Al Manassa. “Last year, we got more,” she said.
“I used to get two sealed slices of white cheese, honey, and jam. Now it’s one of each. They used to hand out a carton of milk daily. Now it’s just once a week. On the other days, it’s replaced with plain yogurt. We used to get two eggs every day, now it’s every other day,” said Reem, whose family lives in Kafr El-Dawwar in Beheira governorate.
At lunch, she finds the rice quantity reasonable, but vegetables arrive in token amounts. “They give us two spoonfuls. If we ask for more, they sometimes give a little extra, but just one more spoon. Then they say, ‘That’s your meal,’” Reem said. As for chicken, “The thigh is tiny and mostly bone.”
One meal only—and not a comforting one
Abdallah Nasser(*), also from Kafr El-Dawwar and a fellow media student, conforms portion sizes drop since 2022. At the start of the current academic year, students were given only one meal a day replacing lunch and dinner. It included cheese, halawa, eggs, five loaves of bread, and breaded chicken, but no dessert, rice, or stew. Two meals a day resumed after about six weeks.
Regardless of quantity, Abdallah rarely eats what’s offered. “Their food just isn’t appetizing,” he said. “The rice looks miserable. The stew is bland. If I get a thigh, I don’t eat it. It looks sad.” Outside food costs him up to 100 pounds ($2) a day.
Some students make do; others do not. “If you depended on these meals alone,” Eyad warns, “you wouldn’t survive.” He works as a video editor and buys food four times a week.
According to Manal Mohamed(*), from Sharqiya governorate, students have grown used to the fluctuation. “The meals aren’t consistent, they come and go. One week, you might get a full portion or even extras. Other days, it’s less,” she said, speaking of her experience in the Boulaq dorms from 2022 to 2025.
Students forced to supplement their diet from outside vendors face mounting financial strain amid Egypt’s record inflation.
Reem, who works as a swimming instructor to help cover her living expenses, said she tries not to depend on her family financially. “I can’t keep asking them for this much money just to afford food, let alone transportation and everything else,” she said.
Student food and the budget gap
Egypt is grappling with its worst inflation crisis in decades, with annual rates soaring above 30% in 2023 and food prices nearly doubling, squeezing millions of already struggling households.
Al Manassa asked a supervisor at the Bein El-Sarayat dorm whether the food budget has increased in line with inflation or whether its real value has shrunk over the years. He declined to comment.
According to Mohamed Ramadan, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights/EIPR, the state budget does not publicly list food allocations for students. But the total education budget tells its own story: it has not kept pace with inflation, raising the likelihood of austerity measures in the sector.
Ramadan told Al Manassa that government spending on education rose from 294 billion pounds to 315 billion pounds for the upcoming fiscal year—an increase of only 7%, well below the projected inflation rate.
He added that allocations for goods and services within the education sector, likely including student meals, rose from 21 to 29 billion, a 26% increase over three years. But cumulative inflation over the same period surpassed 100%. “Spending on education in Egypt is clearly below both regional and global averages,” he said.
Nutritional standards, economic constraints
Linda Gad, a nutrition consultant, said that in assessing whether student meals are adequate, one must consider the dietary needs of people aged 18 to 22. Meals for this age group should consist of 50 - 55% carbohydrates, 15 - 20% protein, and 30% fat, she said.
She emphasized the importance of vegetables and salads in generous quantities and urged a focus on affordable protein sources such as eggs, liver, and white cheese, especially in light of soaring meat prices.
Gad warned against excessive reliance on simple carbohydrates like bread, rice, pasta, and fried potatoes. Given the economic downturn, many students resort to these to feel full, which can lead to obesity. She proposed legumes as a healthy and economical alternative.
Khaled hopes the university dorm will receive more support to improve student nutrition, not just by increasing portions, but by offering more variety as well.
(*) Names have been changed at sources' request.