"Shanghai really is a big city," Luo Zhou said in a low voice. Coming from Jiayu County of Central China's Hubei Province, Luo's first journey to Shanghai failed to light up his face. "I was very tired," he said.

Luo had been admitted by Shanghai-based Donghua University. When other new students had already begun to visit their new campus and clear up new dormitories with the help of their parents, Luo and his father were waiting in the loan support office. There, Luo filled in an application form to delay the date of paying his tuition.

For each new college student at Donghua University, the tuition fee in 2003 was 10,000 yuan (US$1,209). To this was added an accommodation fee and other payments, so Luo ended up owing 12,400 yuan (US$1,499) altogether.

"But I only had 7,000 yuan (US$846), which was 5,000 yuan (US$605) short." As Luo said these words, his father stood beside him, looking at his son silently. "The money was gathered by my family and relatives," Luo said.

In the morning of the first registration day, about 71 students presented the same application as Luo. "These students were from poor families," said Chen, a staff member of the loan supporting office.

National support loan

Today, many college students face the same difficulty as Luo. At the Shanghai International Studies University, a detailed investigation carried out by teachers found that among 1,406 new students recruited in 2003, nearly 200 were poor students. The investigation focused on the real economic situation of each student's family, for instance, the average family income and the reasons for family poverty. While at Shanghai's well-known Fudan University, 20 per cent of the new students were poor students.

Despite the fact that the number of poor students is growing alongside the rise in tuition fee, every university has promised that no student would be excluded from higher education simply because of an inability to pay the tuition fees.

"We have taken various measures to alleviate poor students' economic pressure, but the most important and effective way is to help students obtain a national supporting loan," said Wang Kebin from the Student Department of Donghua University.

A national supporting loan is a kind of credit offered by banks to poor students who need to borrow money to finish their college study. It is advocated by the central government to ensure that even poor students can continue with their studies. However, throughout the process of implementation: "Banks have deep reservations because of the commercial risks they have to take," Wang said.

Worried banks

Although among the interviewed universities, most poor students had successfully received loan from banks, this didn't mean that the co-operation between students, universities and banks had gone smoothly.

"The main worry of banks is whether students will have the ability to pay back their loans once they graduate from their universities." Wang said. Speaking of this, Tang Minghua from the Student Department of Fudan University said that banks should make their conditions for loans more flexible. The loan term for each student is eight years, which means, students have to pay back the whole loan just four years after completing their studies. For students who can't find well-paid jobs, this can mean enduring great financial pressures, especially in recent years when the employment situation has been difficult. For this reason, some students would like banks to consider prolonging the deadline for repaying the loans.

In addition, when students graduate from universities, their contact details also change. Some students fail to promptly inform banks or universities about their new telephone numbers or addresses, which often causes unnecessary misunderstandings between students and banks. "It can appear as a bad debt, but actually this is not always the case," Tang said. "Both banks and universities should make efforts to strengthen students' sense of credit-worthiness."

University suggestions

During her contact with poor students, Yao Junjun from the Student Loan Office of Shanghai International Studies University felt that students sometimes had an inadequate sense of responsibility about repaying their loans. Some students assumed that the loans were a matter between banks and universities.

"They depend too much on universities to help them keep in touch with the banks," Yao said. When students lose or alter their accounts, they don't inquire or explain to the banks on their own initiative, which complicates the management of the loans. "Students should learn how to communicate with banks and banks should attend to the specific situation when a problem takes place," Yao said.

In the light of the high tuition fees, Yao is wondering whether the quantity of loans is sufficient to meet students' needs. Take new students of Songjiang University Town for example. All the students there have to pay 10,000 yuan (US$1,209) every year. However, the amount loaned to each student in a year is not permitted to exceed 6,000 yuan (US$726). "When the tuition was 5,000 yuan (US$605), the national supporting loan was a great help for poor students. But I'm worried about whether it can still be as helpful now the tuition cost has increased to 10,000 yuan (US$1,209)," Yao said.

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