College students coming form low-income families in China are
more likely to carry psychological problems, a latest survey
found.
The survey, released by China Youth Development Foundation, was
based on its recent research after polling 400 university students
in Beijing whose families had financial difficulties.
Nearly 70 percent of the impoverished students came from the
countryside.
According to the survey, 60 percent of the polled students said
they felt "utterly shamed" for being poor, and 22.5 percent of them
had very low self-esteem, as they frequently considered themselves
"inferior" to others.
"They were reluctant to let others know they were poor and
refused to accept even goodwill compassion from their teachers and
classmates," the survey said.
Observers say students from low-income families are just as
likely to be proud of their family and the their communities. But
in schools, they can feel the additional pressure for their
economic status among the peers, as they probably cannot afford
frequent hang-outs and many other activities.
The survey said 40 percent of students from low-income families
were less enthusiastic about ex-curriculum activities and 20
percent of them held "bias and negative" opinions on the
society.
In China, families have to pay at least 8,000 yuan (US$1,000)
every year to support a college student, which means the farmers
have to spend years of their income to support a college
student.
And there are roughly 5 million college students who need
financial aids at present, the survey estimated.
China introduced a pilot state education loan system in 1999,
and by the end of 2005, state loans had reached 2.068 million
college students by issuing 17.27 billion yuan, official figures
indicated.
In fact, most of the college-to-be with poor family background
even give up their future study, as they cannot afford their
first-year tuition and fees.
In another survey made by CYDF, 59.9 percent of the surveyed 320
students said they don't have enough money for their first-year
study in college, and 87 percent said the tuition will surely pose
more pressure to their already penniless families.
The survey reported that 12.7 percent respondents said they will
give up studying for lacking of money.
Among the students polled, 81 percent said the university
tuition was higher than the whole family's income, another 10.2
percent said education expenses took up 79.8 percent of the family
income.
About 82.3 percent of the families were impoverished for funding
a child for university studies, the survey said.
Children's education has always been given much weight in the
eyes of Chinese parents, especially the poor, who consider diploma
as a fast and safe road to earn wealth and social recognition.
According to the survey, 80.3 percent of the poor students
regarded entering university as a "turning point for life" that
could lift their families out of poverty.
Nearly half of the polled students from the countryside said
they would become migrant workers if they failed in the college
entrance exam while only a friction of them said they would stay
for farming.
(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2006)