Following the 1,000 won (won means KRW) breakfast that has been on offer since May 2, a 2,000 won dinner has been available since Oct. 23. Students may take advantage of this offer from Monday to Friday 5 to 7 p.m. at the Hanbit Restaurant in the student center. This offer will only be valid until Dec. 21 of this year, however, and only the first 300 students can enjoy it daily.

  Students’ satisfaction with the 2,000 won dinner is high. In fact, in a survey conducted by CBT on 15th of this month, 82.3% of 96 respondents answered “Yes” to the question, “Are you satisfied with the quantity and quality of the 2,000 won dinner compared to the price?” To the question, “If the offer was available again next year, would you be willing to pay 2,000 KRW for dinner?”, 95.8% responded that they were willing. Moreover, according to CBNU’s consumer cooperative, about 300 students took advantage of the 2,000 won dinner from Oct. 24 to Nov. 15 on a daily basis. Meanwhile, there are some suggestions from students about the 2,000 won dinner. Yoo Ji-hoon(Dept. of Korean Language and Literature, 21) said, “The waiting line at the kiosk that sells meal tickets is so long that I do not use it when it is busy,” expressing his opinion on the expansion of kiosk. Regarding this, Shin Na-rae, a nutritionist at CBNU’s consumer cooperative, said, “There is a cost issue in operating an additional kiosk, and as a practical matter it takes more time to serve additional students who will be forming an even longer line.” Meanwhile, Son Ji-yeon(School of Computer Science, 20) said, “I feel like similar options keep appearing on the menus,” expressing the opinion that she would like the dinner menu to be more diverse. Nutritionist Shin said, “Internally, the work overload of cooks continues to occur.” She continued, “It would be good to increase the number of cooks, but it is not an easy problem. If the situation improves in the future, we will strive to diversify the menu.” This means that there are difficulties with the current kitchen conditions and manpower.

  The production cost of CBNU’s 1,000 won breakfast is 4,000 KRW per meal. Students pay 1,000 KRW, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs subsidizes 1,000 KRW, and CBNU pays the remaining 2,000 KRW. However, for this second semester only, Chungcheongbuk-do subsidizes 1,000 KRW, so currently CBNU pays 1,000 KRW. On the other hand, the 2,000 won dinner is not supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Chungcheongbuk-do. The actual cost of the dinner is 4,900 KRW, with students paying 2,000 KRW and CBNU providing 2,900 KRW. 2,900 KRW is all from CBNU’s pocket, so compared to the 1,000 won breakfast, CBNU currently pays 1,900 KRW more. Then, does CBNU have significant financial difficulties with the 2,000 won dinner? Jung Yoon-hee, who is a member of the staff of the Department of student affairs, said “We have secured the full budget until Dec. 21, which is the end date of the dinner service.” This means that there are no financial difficulties at the moment. When asked about the sustainability of the dinner, she said, “The president of CBNU has expressed his intention to continue it, and we are preparing to reflect it in the budget.” Regarding the opinion that if there is a difficulty in budgeting for next year’s dinner, CBNU should get rid of the 1,000 won breakfast and only do the 2,000 won dinner, she said, “The 1,000 won breakfast is supported by the government. On the other hand, the 2,000 won dinner was created by the president. Therefore, they are separate projects. The budgets are also not intertwined, but separated, so it is impossible to transfer the funds.” She continued, “There is no possibility that the breakfasts will be eliminated in order for the dinners to be increased.”

Meanwhile, CBNU has been running a fundraising campaign for the 2,000 won dinner since Oct. 21. Jung said, “The fundraising is currently in the beginning stages, and there are no plans for when the money will be used.”