It has been seven years since the last round of “incen- tive to increase college tuition” in China. Now， here is a new one coming.

The freshmen that were enlisted in universities in Jiangsu， Guizhou and Ningxia in September were the first batch of students to endure the increasing college tuition after the adjustment in these places. Compared with one year ago， the universities in Ningxia had the largest increase in tuition as the departments of liberal arts， science and medicine all see more than 50% increase in their course cost.

In 2013， there were six provinces/autonomous regions/ municipalities in China having increased the tuition standard of universities. The minimum increase was 10% while some universities/departments have the tuition doubled.

This might be a “delayed” tuition increase. In 2007， the State Council issued an order， killing several universities plan to increase their tuitions and stopping them from increasing the tuition and lodging fees to the level higher than the one in autumn 2006 within five years.

Also in 2007， the Ministry of Education began to work

on the Methods to Fix Average Cost for Higher Education of Students. The average cost for higher education of students refers to the spending on a college students courses and other skill trainings. This is widely believed to be an important base to fix the tuition in China. However， this part has been unclear for a long time.

Now， the governments order has expired， but the method to fix the average cost has not come out yet.

With the new round of tuition increase looming， the old question was put forward again. How much was the tuition increase related to the increase in the cost of training students？ How much of the cost was used to educate students and how much should not be afforded by students？ When will the standard come out eventually？

The Incentive to Increase Tuitions

Jiangsu was the frontrunner in this round of increasing college tuition in 2014.

The Jiangsu provincial government started actions in May when the Provincial Price Administration announced the adjusted tuition standard. In the eight types of courses， the departments of liberal arts， science， engineering， medicine， sport and police all saw their tuitions increase with the 16.61% average growth . The tuition for the department of medicine increased 47.83%， the largest among all departments.

A freshman in the Nanjing University of Medical Technology says that she needs to spend 7480 yuan per year for her seven-year physician training， while her seniors only need to pay 4600 yuan per year. “I have not noticed such a large increase； otherwise I wont consider this university.”

Jiangsu is not the province with the largest increase in college tuition since this title belongs to Ningxia， whose plan of increasing college tuition came out one month later than Jiangsu. In the new plan， the tuition standard of departments of liberal arts in universities of Ningxia increased by 2600 yuan to 4000 yuan per student every year. The tuition for students at the departments of science， engineering and agriculture had a 2800-yuan increase to 4400 yuan. The two departments all had over 50% increase in the tuitions， yet they paled in front of medical schools whose course cost increased by 76.67% from 3000 to 5300.

In July， Zhejiang also made a step forward in the adjustment of college tuitions. In the hearing of adjusting tuitions for universities held by the Zhejiang Provincial Price Administration， the governmental official said that the increase varied to different majors and was also related to the types of colleges. Concretely， the universities and vocational colleges have different increase. In the universities， Zhejiang University was specially listed and given the highest increase in tuitions. The other universities or academies in Zhejiang had various levels of increase as well.

In addition， Guangxi， Fujian， Guizhou， Shandong， Tianjin， Hunan， Guangdong and Hubei also issued the plans of adjusting college tuitions， none of which is going to lower the expense.

This was not the first time that the college tuition increased. After ending the free college education in 1985， the college tuition system， which went through several reforms， had increased several times despite a few setbacks.

In 1999， for example， the average tuition paid by student in common universities increased 40.3% compared with the one in year. In 2000， one common universitys student needed to pay the tuition of 3550 yuan averagely.

If there were no orders from the government， such an increase would be seen on annual basis. From 2001 to 2006， the Ministry of Education and other departments issued a decree every year， requiring the universities to keep the tuitions and lodging fees at the same level with 2000. These yearly orders ultimately led to the State Councils five-year ban on increasing tuitions and lodging fees as mentioned above.

“When the government issued the ban， we worried that the universities， or colleges， which have not changed their sources of expenses or operating patterns， will have the retaliatory price rebound when the ban expires. The current situation tells us that this really happened，” says Xiong Bingqi， deputy director of 21st Century Education Institute.

In his opinion， the ban from the government was an administrative order against the dramatically increasing tuitions. This trend was somewhat baffled by the ban， but the stress for the universities to increase tuitions still lingered there. He once wrote an article， stating that the increase in college tuitions was not completely unacceptable. However， there must be reasons and details about the increase and the students affordability should be put into consideration as well. “If a colleges tuition increased by over 60%， it is hard to be accepted by students no matter where it is.”

The Unclear Training Cost

Most of the directors of universities and colleges related the increase in tuitions to the “cost”.

“In these years， the spending of schools on different items generally increased but the tuitions for students have been unchanged for over 10 years and it takes an increasingly lower proportion in the training cost，” says an enrollment director of a Suzhou-based university. “No we make correspondingly proper adjustment.”

He stresses that the adjusted tuition still takes less than 25% of the “cost of training students”. This means that they do not break The Interim Methods of Managing Fee Collection of Higher Education issued by the Ministry of Education in 2000. The fifth clause of this rule required that the tuition of a university should not take more than 25% of its cost of educating students.

This February， the government of Ningxia also published the average cost of educating a student in universities or colleges. It was said that the average cost of educating/training a student increased from 15.1 thousand yuan in 2005-2007 to 20.26 thousand yuan in 2010-2012. Meanwhile， the proportion of the income from tuitions in the universities total income dropped from 24% in 2005 to 7% in 2012.

Additionally， the average tuition per student in Ningxia accounted for 15.36% of the average cost of educating/training a student， much lower than the required 25% proportion.

However， in Xiong Bingqis opinion， the average cost of training a student announced in the hearing in Ningxia was not for checking the cost of training students， but for “establishing” the spending of universities in simple terms.

“This means that the average cost of training/educating a student in Ningxia had no solid proofs. It is necessary to publish the administrative expenditure of every university， including their spending on ‘public-funded cars， dinners and travels， as well as the expenditure of scientific research. The explanation to tuition increase can only be more convincing with a more specified average cost of training/educating a student，”Xiong Bingqi says.

According to him， the routine expenditure of a university includes the spending on daily operation and some public funds which are not used for students. “There are some universities with dozens of administrative departments. Is that necessary？”

“How to use the money needs to be consulted with teachers and students. This could lower the operating cost and make the cost affordable for the students. The third-party organizations are more willing to donate as well，” Xiong says. In his opinion， the financial structure of universities and colleges need to be more transparent with the details of spending available to everyone relevant.

The less convincing average cost of training/educating a student is related to the stillborn methods of fixing the cost. Actually， when the Ministry of Education announced the plan of figuring out the method， disputes existed since there are at least three groups of data about the cost， which were 15 thousand yuan per year for a student in the department of science and 12-13 thousand yuan per year for a student in the department of liberal arts， 40-50 thousand yuan for a student in the departments of either liberal arts and science， or 7-8 thousand yuan for a student.

Chu Zhaohui， a researcher with China Academy of Educating Sciences， says that the tuition is not necessarily related to the average cost of training/educating a student. “The unavailability of the rule concerns some technological issues. Some universities are working on this as well， but it involves too many things， rendering it impossible to find a method working for all universities and colleges in China，” he says.

The unreasonable spending of universities， which leads to the cost， is another reason for the increase in tuitions， according to Chu Zhao. “It is not a rare case for the public high schools to waste money on unnecessary administrative parts.”

“A university with a reasonable structure should have their funds come from governmental investment， tuitions， social donations and operating income，” he says. “The income of universities in China depends on either the governmental investment or the tuitions.

The first source of college income – the governmental investment – keeps increasing every year. This has been confirmed by both the directors of universities and the official statistical data. In 2012 the Chinese government averagely apportioned 14.12 thousand yuan for a college student， 87% higher than the 7.54 thousand yuan per student in 2009. In 2013， the central government appropriated 25.27 billion yuan on the scholarships and subsidies for college students.

In spite of the governmental investment， the universities cannot get their income higher than the expenditure. In Zhejiang， the public universities had owed 9.468 billion yuan by the end of 2013. The figure was augmented to 260 billion yuan when it came to the 1164 public universities in China.

“The single source of capital and the waste leave the universities no choices to ask more from the students to solve the debt problem，” says Xiong Bingqi.

Low- and Middle-Income Families Most Seriously Affected

“There are many cities in Ningxia where the household income is lower than that of Yinchuan （capital of Ningxia）. Most of the families could earn 10-20 thousand yuan per year only when they are working hard，” says Li Sheng who graduated from Ningxia University in 2013.

Li Sheng claimed to be lucky since he did not meet the time with increasing tuition. When he was studying in Ningxia University， the annual tuition was 2.6 thousand yuan. For this countryside boy whose parents went to cities far away to earn money， this spending was still quite high. In his four-year college career， he applied for the student loans and did part-time jobs in his spare time to earn more money.

“The original tuition takes 40% of my familys annual income，” he says. “If it is increased to 4000 yuan per year， a lot of families like mine will be affected.”

It is widely held by educationists that the tuition of universities or colleges should not take more than 20% of the per capita disposable income. However， in some less developed areas of China， the proportion is larger than 20%. In Ningxia where the per capita disposable income was 8，093.6 yuan in 2005， the proportion of tuition （2，600 yuan then） accounted for 32.12% there. The proportion got bigger for students from rural areas or those studying in the departments of medicine and arts， whose cost is usually bigger.

In China， most of the parents and their children consider the university education to be the only chance to change their fates. Therefore， the tuition has become an indispensable item of spending for Chinese families. Thusly， the increase in tuitions will affect the low- and middle-income families most.

“I will not change my mind because of the tuitions. What my parents care is whether I can get enlisted by the best universities， not their cost，” says a student graduated from Hunan University in 2013. She has a sister who is going to attend the college entrance exams next year. “We will not change the list of universities we want to go because of the increased tuitions. What matters is where we want to go or whether I am capable to go there.”

But for Zhang Wei （alias） who was enrolled by the Logistics Department of Tsingtao University， the tuitions indeed became a problem. “My mother is ill and has to rest at home. My familys income solely comes from my father， who can earn about 9，000 yuan per year.”

According to the college tuition change plans in Shandong， Zhang Wei needs to pay 4，000 yuan per year instead of 3，400 yuan. The additional 600 yuan was a huge burden for the young girl who had to help deliver take-outs in the entire summer.

A director of student management department in a Jiangsu-based university says that the university is going to provide more aids and assistance to students in poverty. Last year， this university spent 20 million in the scholarships， subsidies， loans and reduction of tuitions for the students.

Ni Daoqian， deputy director of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education， says the government budget has included the 1.184-billion-yuan subsidies for college students， 23% more than that of 2013. In addition， the central government has increased the cap of student loans from 6000 yuan per year to 8000 yuan per year. The subsidies for students will be more scientifically allocated based on the conditions of different places.

Many experts and students are also calling for the more transparent and fair student loans and subsidies.

Apart from that， Xiong Bingqi says that the current structure of governmental appropriation needs to be changed. In China， the top universities usually receive a lot of governmental investment and thus they charge less from the students. In foreign countries， however， the colleges with best education must have the highest tuitions. The “bias” of Chinese government has rendered the lesser colleges poorer and more dependent on the tuitions.