Student Center Cafeteria’s Menu B is served for 1,000 won to students

With the start of the new semester, Seoul National University initiated a new project to financially support students: the One-Dollar Dinner Meal. On March 2, 2016, SNU began offering dinner to students for 1,000 won, which is less than one US Dollar. This project was arranged as a continuation of the"One-Dollar Breakfast," which began a semester earlier, on June 1, 2015.

The one-dollar meal is available in the Student Center Cafeteria (Building 63, Cafeteria No. 1) Menu B section, which is where the one-dollar breakfast is also served. Even before the introduction of the one-dollar meals, Menu B was the cheapest meal option in all of SNU's cafeterias, offering students simple home-cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for 1,700 won each. Considering that typical proper meals outside SNU cost at least 5,000 won, Menu B's low price was already favored among students seeking to reduce their food expenses. Beginning this semester, a student could have all three meals for 3,700 won, eating from Student Center Cafeteria's Menu B on any weekday.

Although Menu B is offered at a very low cost, its price is not necessarily a representative indicator of its quality. When compared to other meal options at SNU's cafeterias that cost 3,000-4,000 won, Menu B is definitely more simple and plain. However, the actual production cost of Menu B is 2,100 won, providing an economical, traditional Korean meal for students away from their family. Examples of Menu B's one-dollar dinner include braised mackerel pike, dried pollack soup, thick soybean paste stew, beef simmered in soy sauce with quail eggs and rice cooked with soybean sprouts.

SNU President is having 1,000 won meal for dinner

Because Menu B's regular cost of 1,700 won was already far lower than its production cost, offering one-dollar meal plans led to a significant deficit for SNU Cooperative, the non-profit corporation in charge of most SNU cafeterias. SNU Cooperative revealed that the"One-Dollar Breakfast" caused a 200 to 300-million won deficit per year, and that the"One-Dollar Dinner" would increase that deficit to additional 300-million won. Despite the high amount of deficit, SNU is continuing the one-dollar meal project, in hopes of encouraging students to eat a healthy diet. Especially after seeing the popularity of the"One-Dollar Breakfast" – the number of people eating at the cafeteria has doubled since its launch – SNU decided to extend the program by offering dinner for a dollar. The additional deficit will be covered from Seoul National University Foundation.

"I believe SNU's one-dollar meal is receiving much attention because it is a student welfare policy that is definitely not common in most universities worldwide," expressed KANG Shinchan, a sophomore at the Department of Biosystems and Biomaterials Science & Engineering."Today, more and more youths in Korea are having financial difficulties. Outside SNU, it would be very hard to buy a sandwich or a roll of gimbap with just 1,000 won. In this context, it is natural that so many students are enthusiastic about the new meal plan. This is the result of the university's efforts to create a welfare policy from the students' perspective."

Written by YOON Jiwon, SNU English Editor, jiwonyoon@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Professor Travis Smith, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, tlsmith@snu.ac.kr