BEIJING, July 26 -- An online survey published Thursday showed a majority of Chineseoppose college tuition increases and want colleges to reveal their financial situations.
About 76.1 percent of 2,083 survey respondents clearly opposed recent increases in collegetuition, according to a report on the survey.
The survey was conducted by the research department of the China Youth Daily, a majornewspaper, together with the consulting firm ePanel.
About 78.9 percent of those surveyed had already graduated from college, while 8.1percent are college students and 56 percent of respondents have college students in theirfamilies, according to the report.
In July 2013, China's Ministry of Education lifted a ban on tuition hikes. Since then, anumber of provinces, including Shandong, Fujian, Hubei, Guizhou and Guangxi as well asTianjin Municipality, have raised the standard tuition for public colleges.
Earlier this month, east China's Zhejiang Province held a public hearing on a policy toincrease college tuition by the maximum 15 percent.
Authorities have argued that college tuition had not increased in at least five years andmany public colleges are having financial difficulties.
However, about 82 percent of survey respondents said students are overcharged and only0.8 percent thought tuition levels are low.
According to the government regulation on college tuition, tuition should be no more than25 percent of colleges' average costs per student.
Some provinces have not followed the rules. For instance, in south China's Guangxi ZhuangAutonomous Region, average annual tuition is 5,077 yuan (824 U.S. dollars), or 35 percentof the average cost to educate a college student in the region.
Prof. Zhang Shaoxiong with Central South University said that higher tuition will stopneedy students from going to college.
Wang Tian, a sophomore in Guangxi, was quoted by the China Youth Daily as saying thattuition at his college increased by 1,000 yuan from 2013 to 2014.
Wang, who is from a needy family, said he receives government assistance of 2,500 yuanannually while tuition is about 4,000 yuan per year.
"If tuition continues to rise, I don't know how I will manage," he said.
On the other hand, colleges are complaining about the increase of faculty salaries, currencyinflation and the cost of facilities.
"A teacher in our college is paid 60 yuan per hour for class time, up from 20 yuan a fewyears ago," said Zeng Jing, a college teacher in Changsha, capital of central China's HunanProvince, which is also considering raising tuition. "The increase in cost is inevitable," Zengsaid.
Even though the increase appears necessary, people are demanding to know the financialstatus of colleges.
About 77.7 percent of respondents in the survey said that colleges should publicize theircosts before moving to raise tuition.
Others have pointed out that colleges' financial difficulties are not necessarily related to anincrease in student costs.
Zeng Junsen, assistant research fellow with the Hunan Academy of Social Sciences, toldXinhua that many colleges are overstaffed and spend excessively on updatinginfrastructure, which leads to their financial problems.
"These problems should not be covered by students," Zeng said.
To ease the financial plight of colleges, 68 percent of survey respondents suggested moregovernment spending. The second most popular solution, recommended by 66.9 percent ofrespondents, was for colleges to cut spending on receptions, public vehicles and overseastrips for faculty.
Experts suggested that colleges should regularly publish their budgets and expenses to winthe public's trust, and education departments should fully consult and inform the publicbefore tuition policies are made.
