Most of my friends are university students whose families are either in the normal income bracket, or who are quite poor. Mary's family is just a normal family, not rich, not poor. When she was at university her father gave her a 500 yuan a month allowance which enabled her to live quite a comfortable life, as university restaurants are very cheap and she lacked for nothing. However a foreign friend told her he had money problems and asked her to give him a loan until his father could transfer some funds to him. Mary gave him her 500 allowance, which meant she had nothing to live on. Aware that she could not tell her family, another friend, who was also on a 500 month allowance used her money to support them both. For the entire month both of them lived on what amounted to bread everyday. Imagine two people trying to live on this small amount for a month, and food only represents part of their expenditure. Mary only told me when the foreign friend again asked to borrow money and she didn't know what to do. I told her he was a conman and under no circumstances was she to lend him money again. She never did get her money back. The reason I am telling this story is so that you know what kind of sums of money students generally have to survive on.

A friend with a good job asked me why I didn't go to Western restaurants often. I can afford them but my friends can't. Therefore I have to make a choice, eat alone in a nice restaurant or eat with my friends - they are not comfortable with me always treating them so I have to go to where they want. I nearly always choose my friends but once when Mary wanted to eat at a place that was absolutely awful, I refused and told her I would get a hamburger. I spent around 30 yuan, Mary spent 3 yuan on something that was almost inedible. I asked her how she could eat it and her reply was "I can't spend 30 yuan on one meal, that money would keep me going for several days." Her conscience would not allow her to waste her father's hard earned money. This is just another of the humbling experiences I have had here.

I have other friends who come from really poor families who have made a huge sacrifice to send their child to university. It is expected that this sacrifice will pay off when the student graduates and finds a good job, therefore the students are all under enormous pressure from their families. Wang Jing has graduated and she found a temporary job as a waitress just to make a bit of cash until she found a decent job. She comes from a country family of five children so it was difficult for her to be able to go to university. Once her family knew she was working in a restaurant, they went crazy and told her she would have to leave Tianjin and come home immediately. This was not what they planned and she is not free to make her own decisions. She has to get a good job and start sending money home. She is heartbroken as she wants to stay here.

Finding a job is just one of the problems graduates face, but there are many more. One such problem is that they suddenly find themselves without a place to live and have to immediately find accommodation, the universities close. which is naturally much more expensive than they are used to paying. They are homeless and jobless at the same time. The dormitories at school typically cost 800 yuan - per year. Renting a shared room in a house usually costs around 200 yuan per month. Bearing in mind that some students do not even get 500 yuan per month allowance, having this added financial burden and inconvenience just adds to the pressure.

Xiao Lan said "I plan to go back to my hometown in October but first I want to stay here and find a temporary job, as I can earn more in Tianjin. As I have already graduated the school wants me to move out. It is difficult as my parents expected me to find a good job immediately, but so far I haven't found anything suitable so am still financially dependent on them." After years of financial support, parents look forward to the time when their child will start paying them back, but the problem is that there are too many graduates looking for work at the same time.

After graduating Xiao Hong was temporarily sleeping on a friend's sofa, but when her other friend also had accommodation problems, she could not bring her along too as it would have abused her host's hospitality. She could have just let her friend find her own place, but Chinese people are very loyal to their friends and if one suffers, they feel they also have to suffer.

Meanwhile I have a spare sofa, but who do I help? My friends are mostly in the same boat and if I offer to help one, the others will feel slighted. I asked Mary "If I say Xiao Hong can come here, but not her friend, who I don't know, do you think she would be willing?" Mary said "No, she has to help her friend and anyway if you help her, what about……" She went on to list several other people that I know in the same position. I said "I can't help everybody." Mary said "How can you choose who to help when most of your friends have the same problem?" I gave up.

Yet another problem students face is being ripped off by bogus employment agencies. Jing Jia said "I found a job advertised on the internet, it was through an agency. I went for the interview and they kept me waiting for two hours, I was just sitting there. Finally I asked them when the interview was going to be. They told me that if I didn't have time to wait I could come back, but first in order to arrange the interview I would have to pay a fee. I know this is a scam so I told them to forget it as many of my friends have paid over money and there has been no job at the end of it." It is common here to pay a fee to job agencies to register, which I find strange, as in England it is the company seeking employees that has the contract with the agency and so the financial responsibility is theirs. There are honest agencies here but it is like walking through a minefield trying to find them.

I hope this has given you an insight into the many difficulties faced by the graduates here. Of course graduates everywhere face job seeking pressure, but students here face special difficulties. Life for them is truly not easy and unless they find their holy grail – that all important great job with great prospects, life will continue to be difficult.