The human sperm bank in Hubei Province is offering up to 4,000 yuan ($601) to young men who donate sperm, especially college students.

An employee surnamed Jiang at the human sperm bank told the Global Times that the number of people donating sperm has been growing since the facility opened 10 months ago. However, the sperm supply cannot keep up with demand.

The Hubei-based Yangtze Times reported Tuesday that nearly 10,000 couples try to have test-tube babies every year, and some of them need to wait because of a sperm shortage. The facility is more interested in getting sperm from college students.

A qualified donor must pass a physical examination and sperm quality test first. Each donor can provide sperm eight to 15 times every three years.

The donors are paid 200 yuan ($30) each time. Donors who give 15 times will get an additional 1,000 yuan ($150) reward in addition to the 3,000 yuan ($451).

Jiang said college students are the most sought after donors since they can easily produce high quality sperm.

Some male students from local universities said they would like to donate their sperm.

Li Ran, a medical student at Wuhan University, told the Global Times that many of his friends have heard about test-tube babies and some of them were planning to donate their sperm to get the cash.