Youngsters Needs Scholarships and Psychological Support! 01 November 2022

YOUNGSTERS NEED SCHOLARSHIPS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT!

TOG 2022 Youth Needs Survey Completed

The Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG) has completed its "Youth Needs Survey" aimed at analyzing the needs of young people. According to the research conducted by KONDA Research and Consultancy Inc., young people say, "I need scholarships and psychological support."

TOG, which has been empowering young people with scholarship and mentoring programs for 20 years and supporting their social responsibility projects, conducts research every year to analyze the needs of young people. As Turkey's most widespread youth foundation, TOG completed this year's "Youth Needs Survey" in collaboration with KONDA Research and Consultancy Inc. from May 6 to June 11. A total of 1,542 individuals aged between 17 and 30 participated in the survey. While 57% of the participants were female and 41.3% were male, one out of every five young people was a university student. The unemployment rate among university graduates was 7.5%, while the employment rate was 6.8%.

 

Scholarships and psychological support are the most pressing needs

According to the survey, 81.7% of the participants attend state universities, and when looking at their monthly household incomes, while the rate of young people with household incomes of 10,000 TL and above is 17.3%, the rate of those with household incomes between 5,000-10,000 TL is 30.5%. It is striking that approximately 20% of young people have a monthly household income of less than 500 TL.

59.3% of young people say that their most urgent need is scholarship support. Additionally, 54.2% need psychological support, 32.4% need a computer, 31.5% need books, and 26.9% need mentoring.

 

Limited access to cultural and arts activities

Another prominent issue highlighted in the research is young people's limited access to cultural and arts activities. Approximately one-third of the participants do not spend money on books, magazines, or online cultural and arts content. 42.5% do not spend or cannot spend money on activities such as theater and cinema.

 

TOG General Manager Ayşe Kırımlı commented on the research results as follows: "As Turkey's most widespread youth foundation, we aim to empower young people for 20 years. In the economic conditions we are in, the needs of young people have changed. According to our research, young people need support for scholarships and accommodation to continue their education. Moreover, it is essential for us to pay attention to the needs of young people regarding access to psychological support and cultural and arts activities. We empower young people through mentoring programs and provide scholarship support to more than 1,500 young people every year with over 100 scholarship funds. After the research, we aim to find a solution to the housing problem of young people by adding a new one to our scholarship funds with the Accommodation Scholarship Fund starting from the 2022-2023 academic year. In addition, we aim to increase young people's participation in cultural and arts activities by collaborating with institutions such as Zorlu PSM and IKSV that organize cultural and arts activities. We believe that supporting young people is the best investment in the future. Therefore, we invite everyone to listen to and support young people more."

Other results of the 2022 University Student Needs Survey are as follows:

  • 38% of young people do not receive scholarships, repayable or non-repayable KYK (Credit and Dormitories Agency) aid. 26.1% receive non-repayable, and 18.9% receive repayable KYK scholarships.
  • 5% receive scholarships from NGOs.
  • 7% live alone, a quarter live with 3 people, a third live with 4 people, and a fifth live with 5 or more people.
  • One in five participants has a monthly household income of less than 500 TL, while more than half of the participants have a monthly household income of less than 5000 TL.
  • 37% of the participants do not receive any allowance from their families. Approximately half of the workers earn less than the minimum wage from their jobs.
  • 37% stay or will stay in state dormitories, 34.2% stay with their families, 19.1% stay in student dormitories.
  • 44.7% do not have a room of their own.
  • One in five finds the conditions in the house/dormitory they stay in inhumane.
  • Only 30.6% find their living environment safe. One-third find their house/dormitory sufficient.
    Last year, only one in five young people spent more than 40 TL on food, while this rate increased to one in three this year.
  • 48.9% postponed their treatment due to economic reasons.
  • 66% have access to mobile internet, and only 64.5% own a computer.
  • 71.3% do not dream of a future in Turkey.
  • 81.6% say they would like to live abroad if given the opportunity.