Giving up on gaokao

Feng Sufei, a 12th-grade high school student in rural Henan Province, has decided not to take the national college entrance examinations, or gaokao, which fall on June 7 this year, after getting the results of her high school finals.

Despite being the most important exam in China - often seen as a make-or-break test that will decide a student's entire future - Feng isn't participating. She lives with her parents who are migrant workers in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and has instead chosen to become an apprentice at a local factory.

"My results can't compete with those of my classmates. The gaokao is meaningless to me," Feng told China National Radio (CNR) on Monday.

"The financial status of my family is just at a general level. Even if I could pass the gaokao, studying in university would just be wasting time and placing a heaven burden on my family. It's better for me to earn money to support myself."

Feng isn't alone in this decision. As early as 2009, about 840,000 high school graduates chose not to register to attend the gaokao, a figure that shocked the nation, according to CNR. In that year, the number in Chongqing alone hit 10,000 with most of the students coming from rural areas.

Is a degree worth it?

"For most rural families, supporting a college student is a big investment. They must consider both input and output," Lao Kaisheng, a professor with Capital Normal University, told the Global Times.

Lao said that with booming numbers of students enrolling in college since the late 1990s, the glut of graduates meant their capabilities were not as impressive as in previous years. He added that with a bleak job market, salary expectations are quite low.

With job prospects decreasing, 2013 has been called "the toughest year of employment" for the 6.99 million college graduates, the largest number since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The number of graduates represents a 3 percent increase compared to 2012 and 230 percent compared to 2003, the Nanjing-based Modern Express reported on May 19.

Meanwhile, the availability of jobs from 500 companies has decreased by 15 percent compared to 2012. Only 28.24 percent of the 229,000 college graduates in Beijing had signed employment contracts by April 19, the report said.

"I don't want my child to attend the gaokao this year. The best choice for him is to work. Usually rural students can't enter first-tier universities and can't find good jobs," an anonymous rural parent from Henan Province told CNR. "Some college students earn less money than blue-collar workers."

The average cost of a four-year degree, including tuition and living costs, is about 75,000 yuan ($12,217), according to an investigation by Nanjing Normal University in 2010, the Modern Express reported.

Meanwhile, current per capita average income in rural areas was 7,917 yuan a year in 2012, up 13.5 percent compared to 2011, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in January.

"It's inhuman for a rural family to use up all their savings to support a college student," Zheng Fengtian, a professor with the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times. He suggested implementing reforms that would include increased scholarships and more student aid.