I am a student from a poor village in Anhui Province. This summer my younger sister took the senior middle school entrance examination and did well in it. But she was forced to give up the opportunity because of the high tuition fee – 6,000 yuan. It is surprisingly high for a peasant family, almost equal to a whole year’s income.
The high tuition fees are not an exception in my hometown but a common phenomenon throughout the country.
This year the recruiting capacity of higher education increased. A larger number of high school graduates get opportunities to enter college. But unfortunately the fees rise dramatically at the same time. The average tuition fee for freshman for an academic year is about 3,500 yuan, almost twice as much as two years ago.
High school graduates, especially those from poor areas, have to particularly take tuition fees into consideration when choosing their ideal colleges and universities. Many students from poor areas are bound to suffer. They are on the edge of being cut out completely.
The enlargement of college admission capacity is adopted as a tentative means to increase domestic demand. But I believe that only by lowering admission tuition can domestic demand be increased.
Considering the status quo of education in our country, emphasis on keeping pace with international standards should be coordinated with facing the needs of the countryside. If great efforts are not taken to reduce educational costs, our nation’s education will become “elite education” serving a small group of people instead of growing into “mass education” benefiting the majority of people.
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