VietNamNet Bridge – Students driving cars to university classes is not a rare thing anymore. Many students nowadays have their own cars and they have been dubbed ‘silk-stocking’ students.

Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang and the car she drives everyday

Hai, a security guard of the university, related that since 2007 he has seen students driving cars to the university. Hai said that these students are all amiable and generous.

Explaining the ‘generosity’ of the students, Hai said that the students always pay with banknotes of high face value and never ask for change.

V.H.N, a student of the Chinese Language Faculty under the Hanoi University, related that he has to spend VND10,000 every time parking at the university’s parking lot. However, the fee is VND20,000 if he parks in the evening, or 20 times higher than the fee for keeping motorbikes.

N. said that he prefers parking in another place, though he has to pay VND20,000, or double the fee set by the university. It is because N. does not want his classmates to know that he drives a car to university.

The motorbike and car keeper at Chua Lang street’s parking lot related that several students of the University of Foreign Trade on the same street park their cars here. The students park their cars here in the morning, walk to the university, and return in the afternoon.

The International Faculty of Hanoi National University also has five students driving cars to school.

V.H.N from Hanoi University related that she drives several tens of kilometers a day to university. “My home is in West Lake area, while the university is in Thanh Xuan area. Therefore, I have to drive a car to class.”

N. related that her family has two cars, a Lexus and a Corendo. She has been driving the two cars in turn to university.

When asked why her parents allowed her to drive to university, N said that her parents feel more secure when she goes to university by car, because the rain, sun and gangsters will not be able to molest her.

Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, a student at Hanoi University, drives a VND2bil car to university every day.

Trang related that she spent VND10mil to learn to drive. Trang’s parents are real estate investors, and give her VND3mil a month as an allowance. However, Trang is not finicky about dressing. She wears simple clothes and does not put on makeup when she goes to lessons. “Students cannot make money. I don’t want to ask for more money from my parents,” she said.

Trang’s father does not want his daughter to go to university by motorbike because he feels that traffic is terrible. Trang also thinks that it is safer to go by car because drivers are still safe in the event of an accident.

The Lexus Trang is driving is her parents’. Trang revealed that her father will buy a car for her if she does not go studying abroad.

Luu Van