Summer is a bittersweet time for millions of Chinese high school graduates. Twelve years of hard study ends with the reward of a university admission notice, the joy tempered by the headache of tuition fees.

About 60 per cent of poor graduates say they cannot come up with the first year's tuition, and 16 per cent of them may give up their university dreams to work in cities or farm at home instead, a survey released on Sunday showed.

The survey, conducted by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF), questioned poor graduates from 16 high schools in 11 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, including Beijing, Chongqing, Hebei, Anhui, Hunan, Ningxia and Guangxi.

The average annual household income of those surveyed was only 4,756 yuan (US$587), far lower than 6,780 yuan (US$837) average annual tuition and living cost for a university student, the survey showed.

More than 80 per cent of respondents say their families become poverty-stricken because of high education expenses, and about 90 per cent of them worry that high tuition fees would worsen their families' financial situation, according to the survey.

CYDF figures indicate that about 4.05 million university students in China are suffering from poverty, accounting for 26 per cent of the nation's total. According to the percentage, universities nationwide will have another 1.3 million poor students this September, as the total recruitment will be around 5 million.

The Ministry of Education issued a notice last week urging higher education institutes across the country to continue with last year's "Green Passage" programme, in which poor students may enrol and defer tuition payments.

At least 10 per cent of tuition fees collected every year by each school should be used to help poor students, for example by offering scholarships, tuition waivers and work-study programmes under which students help out in libraries, teachers' offices or service departments to earn money, the notice said.

The ministry also encourages poor students to apply for State loans. Ministry figures show that the State loan system, introduced in 2000, has aided 2.07 million university students by issuing 17.27 billion (US$2.13 billion) in interest-free loans by the end of last year.

But CYDF figures show that 1.78 million poor students are still in need of financial help.

To help more first year students with financial difficulties, CYDF last month launched Project Hope College Dream programme.

Editor: Wing