A recent survey by the National Bureau of Statistics indicates 44 percent of Chinese people, whether urban or rural, now save most for their children's college education, "China Daily" reports October 21.

parents spend as much as 42.8 percent of their savings on their children's education, the statistics show.

This year China carried out a further relaxed enrollment quota system to satisfy people's growing demand for college education, and some colleges raised tuition to obscene heights and some colleges lowered admission scores only to collect more money from unqualified students.

The unqualified students have to pay as much as an extra 100,000 yuan (US$12,000), up from the 3,000 yuan (US$360) paid by normally admitted students.

Current tuition are still too low and that students can afford more, a college official was quoted by the paper as saying.

But according to the 1998 edition of China Almanac, the per capita disposable income for Chinese farmers is 2,090 yuan (US$252) a year, and actually farmers only have 483 yuan (US$58) left after deducting annual expenditures.

Experts worry that today rural children cannot go to college not because they fail academically but because they are in poor families, and these experts also suggest the State help strike a balance between the interests of individuals and colleges so college enrollment is based more on merit than money.

A professor said, "We cannot go to another extreme and insist that China'sn institutions operate like welfare agencies, because this approach is neither realistic nor sustainable."