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Tuition for Famous Chinese Universities Soaring
Going to universities in China is getting expensive, especially those enjoying a fame, another sign the huge country is moving towards a Westernized market economy.
Beginning September 1 when the new semester starts, China's world-renowned Qinghua University will charge 4,800 yuan tuition on each freshman, a whopping 2,000 yuan more charged on their predecessors.
And the Shanghai Communications University, from which Chinese President Jiang Zemin graduated in the 1960s, will charge each new recruit an astonishing 6,000 yuan.
An official from the State Education Ministry said most of China's key universities will levy 4,000 to 6,000 yuan on new students for the coming semester, as compared to 3,000 yuan last year.
He said the steep rise of tuition is ``legitimate'', because his ministry has the policy to allow key universities to raise their charge by 15-30 per cent on a basis fee of 4800 yuan.
Chinese analysts predict the famed colleges will charge even more next year, in a mood that they will gradually catch up with world charismatic universities like Harvard and Yale of the United States, and Cambridge and Oxford of Britain.
Higher education is non-compulsory in China. It is therefore reasonable for colleges and universities to collect tuition fees from students to help augment funds that are available to them.
Although the central and local governments will continue to earmark funds to Chinese colleges, they now encourage their schools to increase tuition and shoulder more of their own expenses.
However, the precipitous increase of charges has led to another problem: driving the impoverished students out of college campus, experts say.
Due to regional economic disparities, some students, especially those from underdeveloped rural and outlying areas, find it difficult to pay their tuition fees.
Since 1987, the ministries of education and finance have taken a series of measures to help poor students finish their college studies, such as reducing the fees they have to pay and offering subsidies or scholarships.
To further assist cash-strapped students, the government has kicked off another initiative to introduce bank loans to the students in need. Last year, banks in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Wuhan, Shenyang, Xi'an, and Nanjing all started student business.
It is expected that these measures will be introduced into other regions to help poor students complete their higher learning careers, according to Shang Fulin, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, China's central bank.
Students are required to repay principles and interests within four years after graduation, but poor students may get a 50 per cent discount on interest repayments and the State will pay the remainder.
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