A college acceptance and enrolment notice sent Jing Yanmei and
her family into a state of near euphoria, but only for a few
moments.
Anxiety over the 5,000 yuan (US$602) tuition fee immediately
gripped the farming family in Yulin of northwest China's Shaanxi
Province. Feeling desperate and helpless, Jing's father
committed suicide several days later.
Media reports ignited widespread sympathy accompanied by
donations. Jing got the money for her tuition, but how long will it
take her to walk out from the shadow of her father's death?
The tragedy of the Jing family was an extreme case. But those
groaning under the heavy burden of college tuition fees are by no
means small in number.
Statistics by the finance department of the Ministry of
Education indicate that in the recent years students needing help
to cover part or all of their tuition fees have comprised around
one fourth of the total. By January, the number of college students
on campus stood at 13 million.
Tuition fees were introduced in 1989 when each student had to
pay 200 yuan (US$24) annually. When the experimental period of the
reform ended in 1996, charges began to rise sharply. That year,
many colleges and universities raised their fees to 2,000 yuan
(US$240).
By 2000, annual tuition fees in most colleges and universities
exceeded 4,000 yuan (US$482). And this year, fees for most subjects
were around 5,000 yuan (US$602).
Charges for subjects such as foreign languages and medicine are
even higher, between 5,000 (US$602) and 6,000 (US$723) in
Beijing-based institutions. Fees in colleges of art have risen
beyond 10,000 (US$1,205).
The theory behind fee charging is that higher education should
not be run on a par with compulsory education since it will bring
about high economic returns for the students concerned. In a market
economy, higher education is a kind of investment for one's future,
so fees are entirely reasonable.
Such a point of view has become widely accepted. But one
family's tragedy has sounded the alert that higher education should
not be run as an industry for profit.
It is the State and society that is the ultimate beneficiary of
higher education and therefore it is in the public interest to
provide for it.
According to standards set by the Ministry of Education, annual
fees should amount to one fourth of the cost to the university or
college for each student. Such a figure, however, is often met with
scepticism and many establishments have exceeded that tariff.
Currently, tuition fees have risen so that they now far outstrip
average incomes.
Statistics indicate that during 1990 and 1997, tuition fees
averaged a rise of 20 per cent, compared to a 6 per cent growth
rate in income during the same period.
In 2000, the per capita annual income of urban residents was
6,280 yuan (US$757). In the light of this, the 4,000-5,000 yuan
(US$482-602) college tuition fees have become a heavy burden. But
for those in the countryside the picture is grim, with average
incomes of around only 2,253 yuan (US$271) per capita.
The soaring rise in fees was out of sync with incomes and would
have resulted in more widespread crushing of a dream of a college
education for many more if a system of financial assistance had not
been introduced.
But there do exist a number of measures to cushion the financial
shocks of the cost of higher education. And to ensure that students
from poverty-stricken families do not find themselves shut out of
colleges and universities, a series of policies have been worked
out by the government which incorporate scholarships, subsidies,
exemptions, loans and part-time work.
Colleges and universities are required to contribute 10 per cent
of their income from fees to help those students from impoverished
backgrounds.
Since 1999, such students have been eligible to apply for
student loans from State-owned commercial banks, which require no
guarantee, while central or local revenues shoulder part of the
loan interest.
By April last year, 2.64 billion yuan (US$318 million) of
contracted loans had been signed, benefiting 317,000 students.
In September last year, a national scholarship fund totalling
200 million yuan (US$24 million) a year was established, which
awards 45,000 excellent students each year. All the award-winners
are also completely exempt from tuition fees.
Other bursaries initiated by other social groups also provide an
important source of assistance for those from poor families.
According to education authorities, if existing policies are
properly carried out, the government's oath that "not a single
college student plagued by poverty should be abandoned" can be
realized.
These well-intentioned programmes, however, are not always
properly implemented.
For example, the government-sponsored loan programme has not
been wholeheartedly embraced by commercial banks. The
administration of small loans has increased costs incurred by the
banks, but more importantly exposed them to greater risks through
payment defaults.
So much more remains to be done.
Last Tuesday, the Ministry of Education issued an urgent
document reiterating the government's determination to ensure that
financial help reaches every student in need.
As the new semester approaches, the education watchdog has asked
all colleges and universities to open a "green passage" in
registration for those who fail to collect enough money for their
tuition fees.
In any incidence of a student being rejected, on account of
inability to pay tuition fees, the college or university concerned
will be held directly accountable, said the document.
It also requires detailed information on available assistance
programmes be sent together with the acceptance and enrolment
notice. Lack of information about available financial assistance
programmes is thought to have been an important factor in the death
of Jing's father.
Will the policy of the education authorities be fully
implemented? Only time will tell. If it is, then the tragedy we
have heard much about of late, the unnecessary death of a farmer in
Shaanxi, will never be repeated.
(China Daily July 29, 2003)