China Youth Daily, a Beijing-based national newspaper, reported in its May 11 edition about a survey conducted in Nong'an County of Northeast China's Jilin Province, showing that 28.7 per cent of the students there said they were afraid to go to college. The reason the students cited was that their families couldn't afford to send them to universities or colleges.

According to the survey, the annual average tuition and fee charges for a college student in the province were up to 11,800 yuan (US$1,422) in 2004, while the net per-capita income of farmer was 3,000 yuan (US$360) in the same year. This means that the added incomes of four farmers were barely enough to support one student for a year.

Education can enhance a person's capacity and improve his or her life circumstances. As it is often said, knowledge is power. Knowledge can change a person's fate. Access to higher education is an important key to the upward mobility of all citizens and especially children from the rural areas. Therefore, attaining a higher education in colleges and universities has always been the main goal and aspiration of rural students.

However, rising tuition and education costs have placed an increasing burden on middle- and low-income families, especially those in the rural areas. Some brilliant students from poor families have been forced by high education fees to abandon college. Ever more families are worrying about whether they can afford the expensive tuition and miscellaneous fees if their children are admitted into universities.

Expensive college tuition and related expenses are one of the main reasons why rural students fear being enrolled by a university. Another important reason is that confidence in higher education has been eroded by rising graduate unemployment in recent years.

Statistics show that the total number of college graduates in China in 2003 was 2.12 million, in 2004 the figure reached 2.8 million, and the number of college graduates will hit 3.4 million in 2005. As the number of college graduates is growing by leaps and bounds, it has become increasingly difficult for college grads to find jobs right out of school, and many remain unemployed for long periods. By the end of last year, there were still 700,000 college graduates from 2003 who had not yet landed a job.

Job competition is tight and many college grads have to start off in their careers at lower salary levels. Entry-level wages for college graduates have been falling rapidly in real terms. In 2004 the average starting salary for college graduates was 25 per cent to 30 per cent lower than the year before.

The uncertainty of job prospects for college graduates has made many rural students and their families feel that taking up higher education is like taking a gamble -you have to be prepared to lose! This has to some extent undermined their enthusiasm for higher education.

What is the solution to the problem? Cutting tuition fees and increasing farmers' income are things which should be considered. However, under current circumstances, it may not be good to motivate all high school students to seek a college education. Rather, some high school students, especially those from low-income families who cannot afford expensive higher education tuition, should be encouraged to pursue cheaper but practical education, such as technical/vocational training.