BEIJING, May 12 -- Rural kids have a dream, a dream of being enrolled by top universities. Many of them, and their parents however, are worried when the dream comes true.

    Why so? Simply because university education is too heavy a financial burden they find they are unable to shoulder.

    A recent survey, conducted in Nongan, a county in northeast China's Jilin Province, has found 28.7% of rural students said they fear of being enrolled by university because they can not afford the expensive tuition.

    In the province, the net per-capita income of farmer was 3,000 yuan in 2004, while the annual tuition and other costs of a college student were up to 11,800 yuan. This means that the added incomes of four farmers were barely enough to support one student for a year.

    In order to raise the high tuition fees, the impoverished rural families have to borrow money all around. Some have to sell their livestock, land or even their houses.

    Passing the highly competitive college entrance exams and getting the news of being admitted to a university after enduring years of painstaking studies is every student's dream in high school. But poor students are afraid of this dream really coming true.

    Jiang Feng is an excellent student in a high school in Nongan County. Her mother said she was very anxious at the thought of her daughter's further study. Their farming income barely made ends meet for her two studying children, so she is worried about her daughter's enrollment in university.

    The cost of higher education began to soar in the mid-1990s, when the Chinese Government stopped offering free college education as part of the reform of China's higher education system. Tuition fees shot up from several hundred yuan a year in the 1980s to 3,500 yuan or 5,000 yuan, with the high fees reaching over 10,000 yuan, not including lodging and boarding expenses.

    Such costs made a university education an unbearable luxury for many families living in the low-income areas, like Nongan County. Hence, the fact of being admitted by university bothers lots of outstanding but poor students.

    Thus, both the government and the poor students are confronted with the dilemma. The reform of the higher learning system, initiated by the government, is must, and the difficulties now poor families encountering is a fact.

    The government has taken measures to tackle this problem - providing work-study opportunities, offering interest-free or low-interest loan and granting scholarships, and promised to ensure that no students should be deprived of their rights to education due to their financial difficulties.
When asked whether the angst of lacking money bothered them in the study, 71.6% students answered "yes". And 34.7% said the poor financial situation was their huge psychological pressure.

    Nongan County enjoys the good name of "the first county in foodstuff production" in Jilin Province. But about 30% families have the difficulties of paying their children's tuition. Last year, 6 poor students entered universities by loan and subsidies from the village.

    Parents have a mixed feeling. On one hand, they hope their children can go to the university, but on the other hand, they fear their children would make it to universities.

    The survey found that two factors should take into consideration to cope with the situation -- cutting down the tuition and increasing farmers' income.

    (Source: China Daily)