Poll: most oppose student fee hike
Print Edition
MORE than three quarters of Chinese oppose increases to college tuition fees and want academic institutions to make their financial information public, according to an online poll.
Just over 76 percent of 2,083 respondents clearly oppose recent increases in college tuition fees, the survey by the research department of the China Youth Daily and consulting firm ePanel found.
Almost 79 percent of those surveyed graduated from college, just over 8.1 percent are college students, while 56 percent have college students in their families, according to the research.
In July 2013, China’s Ministry of Education lifted a ban on tuition hikes. Since then, a number of provinces — including Shandong, Fujian, Hubei, Guizhou and Guangxi, as well as Tianjin Municipality — have raised the standard tuition fee for public colleges.
Earlier this month, east China’s Zhejiang Province held a public hearing on a policy to increase college tuition fees by the maximum 15 percent.
Authorities argue that fees had not increased in the past five years and many colleges face financial difficulties.
However, about 82 percent of survey respondents said students are overcharged. Less than 1 percent thought fees low.
According to government regulations, tuition should be no more than 25 percent of a college’s average costs per student, yet some colleges charge more.
Professor Zhang Shaoxiong from Central South University said that higher tuition fees will stop students from poor backgrounds going to college.
However, colleges complain that increases in faculty salaries, inflation and the cost of facilities have hit finances.
“A teacher in our college is paid 60 yuan per hour for class time, up from 20 yuan a few years ago,” said Zeng Jing, a college lecturer in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan Province, which is also considering raising tuition fees. “Increases are inevitable,” Zeng said.
But members of the public are demanding more information on the financial health of colleges.
Almost 78 percent of respondents in the survey said that colleges should publish their costs before moving to raise tuition fees.
And observers pointed out that colleges’ financial difficulties are not necessarily related to an increase in student costs.
Zeng Junsen, assistant research fellow with the Hunan Academy of Social Sciences, said that many colleges financial problems are caused by being overstaffed and spending excessively on updating infrastructure.
“Students should not be expected to pay for these problems,” Zeng said.
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