Author: Ermal Spahiu
The student card has not lived up to expectations since its release. In the last two years, students estimate that this card has not provided them with the service claimed by this tool. Contrary to what its concept predicts, they, through observations and concrete experiences in different businesses, have realized that the real function is far from the government's promises to ease monthly expenses. There are many young people who define the presentation of the student card as a failure, with the argument that the reductions in Services have not affected their daily expenses. Starting from this experience, the students have given their answers, how they see the student card, three years after the presentation by the Municipality of Tirana and the Youth Agency.
"Currently inefficient tool!"
"A tool that has only served for propaganda."
"In Albania it is not valid at all."
"The student card does not provide the right expectations for students, at least in my city. That's why many students don't take it."
These are some of the students' answers in the conducted survey online, where comments express the lack of efficiency and poor function that this card has against students.
Today, if you go to a business in the center of Tirana, it turns out that it does not apply this card. Such businesses are mainly pharmacies, bookstores, eyeglass stores, stationery stores and electronic equipment stores, which are located in different areas of Tirana. Such data weakens the interest of young people to use it, in order to benefit from a favorable discount, which can give space to the savings of the economic base.
Hume Gjana, a second-year student at Professional Master, explains that he was provided with the student card in the last year in Bachelor.
"The only service that I have benefited from the student card is the student subscription, which I received at a reduced price. The expectation has been much greater than that, since where a student most needs a reduction, he has not benefited. It is worth mentioning the offices and various book sales points. I expected that there would be a wider scope in the food canteens, since we are students at the end. I would have considered a decrease in health Services as well".
Another student says that with the student card she benefits from a price discount on some Services, which come with a notification in the student card application and are considered unnecessary for young people. "The offers are for a limited time and the discounts are not very big. I don't leave room for the student to choose, when necessary, but only when the offer opens".
Other reactions regarding the function of this tool have also recently come from student activists, invited to the show of Now Newsto discuss the problems they face.
Ariela Zeneli says that the mayor, Erion Veliaj, has thought more about himself or about the people with whom he cooperates, whom he calls oligarchs: "The Services that the student card had were discounts at jewelry stores, car Services, hoodie of one of the singers, with whom Veliaj collaborates. These are not Services that enter our work, therefore, these are luxury Services, which we don't even think we have. The things we look for in the student card are very basic. We ask for a discount on urban transport, for which we do not have a student subscription (refers to several lines). Since the beginning of the pandemic, the student subscription is no longer issued or, more precisely, very few are issued and they expire in record time. Also, we should have a reduction in interurban transport, which means that all students, coming from the districts, should have a discount on the fee in their cities, where they want to go.
Secondly, with the student card we want to have access to certain bookstores for the books we buy, because there are many of them and they are required in the faculty. Seating should also be in canteens. These are basic things, which the student card does not cover.
The student card does not include these, the Services are completely ridiculous. Erion Veliaj offers Services that are not at all related to the reality in which students live today", Zeneli concludes.
"More is done for commercial reasons, for the benefits of the people with whom Veliaj cooperates. The goal is to derive benefits from the students, even though the latter, with a thousand problems, try to overcome the difficulties of "survival" in the city. Erion Veliaj again has the face and courage to include in this "student card" these completely mediocre, unnecessary Services that are of no use to anyone". - says Fjoralb Nezha.
Aurel Kujtimi, Political Science student and student rights activist, sees the student card as an initiative of the Municipality of Tirana to make propaganda.
"I went shopping in the supermarket to test the card. When I went to pay at the cashier, I presented my student card and asked what percentage discount there is. They told me that "we don't recognize the student card and you don't have a discount". It has not served me for anything, because it is a tool to understand Veliaj's propaganda. It only served me to keep it in my wallet as a business card".
How satisfied are students currently with this tool?
Students' experiences with the student card can taste salty, if we take as a basis how much the monthly budget has been eased compared to the period when this card was not functional. In a survey conducted online for the purpose of writing this article, where about 57 students participated, most of them declared a great dissatisfaction with this experience with this important tool. According to them, this card has not yet given what was expected and claimed by the students. They judge this initiative of the Municipality of Tirana as a failed attempt to make money and lie to the students.
74% of students surveyed said that they are not at all satisfied with the Services they receive from the student card. The main benefit is in the student subscription, according to 46% of students surveyed. 50% of respondents said they have benefited from discounts between 1%-5%.
What is this card used for today?
Described as an important tool for students' wallets, this card has been implemented since May 2019. Its purpose was to ease the economic base of students in relation to the high expenses that the latter make, starting with the fees that they go for studies, accommodation expenses in dormitories or rented houses, daily consumption expenses and those of public, urban transport. This relief is only reflected in the last service, where a student today, thanks to the student card, benefits from a student subscription with a reduction of 600 new lek from 1200 new lek, which is the cost.
How much does a student spend in the capital without a student card?
In a study done by Civic Resistance for the student life of young people in the country, it appears that a student today in the center of Tirana without using this card spends approximately 324 euros per month, where 60% of this figure goes for accommodation. From this study, it is noted that 57.7% of students spend approximately 10-20 euros, 18.5% of students, 20-50 euros and 4.3%, over 50 euros, to buy teaching aids. Regarding expenses in accommodation and food; 15.5% of students spend over 400 euros per month, 67.5% of them spend 150-400 euros, while 17% up to 150 euros per month.
Accommodation in the capital is one of the sacrifices of a student in Tirana. In addition to the difficulty of finding a house for rent or accommodation in a dormitory, a student must spend at least 50-100 euros for his accommodation. According to this study, it appears that 24% of young people studying in the capital spend over 200 euros.
Food is another cost for students, who, in a calculation made by resistance, they must remove from their economic base at least 1-3 euros per day. The highest figure for spending on food is calculated at over 7 euros.
Transportation. Public transport is of vital importance in the financial life of students, who use a transport line to go to university, to return to their homes or to go on holiday. On average, a student today pays 20-30 euros per month to use public transport, a cost that burdens their economic base. In this case, the student subscription, which is obtained thanks to this card, serves as a relief for young people who travel without the obligation to pay the ticket on the public transport lines in Tirana. The only lines that today continue not to apply this service are the Kamez and Vorë urban transport lines.
Regarding the activity of this service, Rigels Xhemollari, executive director of Civic Attitude, sees the student card more as a business than as a necessary need for students: "Currently, the student card serves students only as a bus ticket or, more precisely, as a means of identification to benefit from the student subscription, which it was in effect even before the card was produced.
The approach applied by the Municipality of Tirana has been more that of a business than a tool that brings benefits to the student community; thus, they benefit as buyers or consumers, not as students. We cannot have financial facilities without having a dedicated budget for compensation to bidders", he said.
According to him, discounts on the student card should be of basic needs for students and reductions in Services, where entertainment is offered, have no impact on their expenses. He also mentions students who study in other cities and do not have such a document, saying that they should not be excluded from this national initiative.
"Services and products that should come to students at a reduced price should be related to their basic needs, starting from accommodation, food, clothing, literature or teaching aids. Discounts, which are related to coffee bars or beauty salons, do not affect the student wallet, therefore the initiative for the student card should first be a national initiative, not to exclude district students, an initiative budgeted from the budget of the state and an initiative that responded to the real needs of students, not the interests of a mayor, the businesses he controls and the image of electoral campaigns, but as it happens in other European Union countries, which serve the basic needs of the student", Xhemollari concluded.
What does the student card offer?
The student card offers students over 2000 (two thousand) public and private Services. Currently, the administrators of this card are trying to expand the service sector and Youth Agency is in ongoing negotiations with various entities to include them as part of the student card.
How many students have a student card?
The number of students, who currently enjoy a student card, is known to be over 70%, in a study done by Faktoje.al, but this number is seen as insufficient, as long as there are still students who do not have such a tool in their portfolios. Most of the students, who do not have this tool, are mostly in their first year of studies and claim that the student card is constantly postponed by the universities, which prevents them from withdrawing it at the right time.
"Everyone should definitely get it!"
"A very good initiative, but in universities it has been postponed for two months as a procedure, especially for those of us studying in the first year."
"All students should have a student card and with it we can benefit from a small reduction in prices", - are some of the answers of the students, who are still facing the lack of a student card.
Where have the students benefited and where do they want to benefit?
The reality that the student card offers is far from what is claimed by students, who openly express their dissatisfaction with the Services they have received during the period of using this card. The service with the best discount is the student subscription, where the survey shows 21 students who have benefited from a subscription, while the other Services are mainly bookstores, libraries, The house with leaves and others.
Where do students want to benefit? What is the service for which they most need to get a discount among many other daily expenses? Their answers show a wide range of Services, where students claim to benefit from discounts. Among the many Services are: bookstores, offices, public transport, tickets for trips abroad (mainly for studies), dormitories or houses for rent, universities, internships and professional courses, markets, internet, health, food, coffee bars, technological equipment (shop for smartphone etc.), shopping centers, museums, cinemas, businesses.
Albanian student card, how far from Europe!
If we were to make a comparison between Albania and Europe in terms of how the student card works, of course, in terms of the quality and Services offered, we would affirm a positive experience for foreign students, who have the opportunity to explore a range of wide range of offers, where you can benefit from valuable discounts. In the list compiled by European Student Card in Italy, Services are noted, which are missing from our card. On this card, the Services where an Italian student can get discounts start at cinemas and end at technological devices. The same reality applies in Greece, where the student card has all the Services that a student can use.
