(ECNS) -- As more provinces plan to join Guangdong and Jiangxi in raising university tuition fees, 76 percent of survey respondents said the cost of education is already high.
The survey by China Youth Daily showed that 61.5 percent said the tuition fees at universities and colleges are “rather high” and 14.5 percent said “very high”.
More than 33 percent said they can’t accept any rise, while 48.1 percent said ok to an increase of less than 20 percent, and 13 percent agreed with a 20 to 40 percent increase.
Lyu Hua, a civil servant at Qinghuangdao city of Hebei Province, said the tuition fees for her son, now at a university, are not high, but other costs such as accommodation and food made the university education expensive for them.
When asked why tuition fees should not be raised, 51.8 percent said students from poor families already face higher pressure, and 49.3 percent doubted if students would see any benefit from the increased cost.
Lei Yang, from a village in Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, said rising tuition fees could force many rural students to reconsider university applications, largely due to the pressure of consumption expenses.
Liu Haifeng, the president of the Institute of Education at Xiamen University, said rising prices coincide with higher salaries, meaning it is reasonable to increase tuition fees for universities to continue to operate normally.
Liu also urged universities to provide subsidies or scholarships to students from rural families in order to guarantee the right of higher education.
In the survey, half called for food subsidies and 41.8 percent preferred interest-free loans to allow students to finish their university learning. More than 72 percent said schools should provide part-time jobs and also waive some fees.
When asked about how changing fee structures should be implemented, 45.1 percent suggested the state should direct the process and 45.3 percent called for regional consumption to be considered.
To relieve the financial stress on universities, about one third suggested universities could run businesses, 30.4 percent called for fund-raising, and 67.9 percent demanded a reduction in the administration expenditure of universities.
A total of 2,000 people participated in the survey, with 34.8 percent from the top-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and 2.1 percent from rural villages.
