United States

The United States is the country with the most well-known universities in the world today. Their education is roughly divided into two types, one is compulsory education, and the other is purely personal investment. University and undergraduate education.

Primary school to high school are compulsory education, so it is basically free for students to attend public schools, but tuition fees for college and undergraduate education are very expensive.

Universities in the United States are divided into public and private universities, just like in China. The difference is that the educational funds of public universities are government financial allocations, while the funds of private universities come from individuals or social groups. The difference in tuition fees between public universities and private universities in the United States is about $20,000 to $40,000 per year.

Therefore, with regard to the high tuition fees for higher education in the United States, 2/3 of students will choose to pay their tuition fees through loans.

Europe/Asia

Because Europe is a welfare society and has higher taxes, most of them have free higher education policies, such as Germany, Denmark and other countries, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy is similar to the United States in that students mostly pay for college tuition themselves.

The situation in Japan and South Korea in Asia is similar to that in the United States. Students generally pursue independence and take the initiative to pay for their own tuition.

In China

But in China, the tuition fees of college students are basically borne by their parents. Even if the state provides student loan services for poor students, the proportion of students who can successfully apply for student loans is still very small. It is a default custom in our country that parents pay for college tuition.

So, why are the tuition fees for college students in China mainly borne by parents?

As far as the tuition and school funding system is concerned, before 1994, colleges and universities trained college students recruited according to the plan at public expense, and the remaining students were charged on a pilot basis. The so-called "dual-track" training mechanism emerged.

In 1996, higher education underwent a trial integration of enrollment, and tuition fees suddenly rose to over 200 yuan, more than ten times. After full integration in 1997, tuition fees have been hovering around 3,000 yuan.

In 2000, the Chinese University Circle Movement began, general enrollment expansion kicked off, and the process of popularizing higher education began. University fees soared, generally increasing by about 15% based on 1999. In some areas, it is as high as 20%, and tuition fees have increased by more than 4,000 yuan. From 1998 to 2002, tuition and miscellaneous fees in my country's colleges and universities also increased 5.3 times in five years.

From a structural analysis point of view, taking the data from 1999 to 2009 as an example, in the past ten years, the part of higher education investment from the government has only increased by 3.5 times, while the part from individual donations and personal school funding has increased. 60 times, the increase in tuition fees is 18 times, and other funds have increased 36 times.

China’s total investment in higher education has increased by more than eight times. The Chinese government has increased its investment in education, but the structure of the investment has changed. Among them, the proportion of investment in higher education has dropped from about 80% ten years ago to about 40% now.

In other words, taking into account various factors, China’s total investment in higher education has increased by more than eight times. Although the government’s investment in education as a whole has increased, the structure of investment has undergone tremendous changes. Among them, The proportion of investment in higher education has dropped from about 80% ten years ago to about 40% now.

From another perspective, we can raise a question based on this, who is bearing the university tuition and living expenses that were originally a national burden, but the proportion of burdens has been continuously reduced. The answer is simple: parents of college students.

As for why Chinese college students rely on their parents to support them to go to college, it cannot simply be understood as nibbling on the elderly, nor can we label college students as "not independent". Although the government has been promoting national student loans, college students' dependence on their parents has not changed.

However, with the rapid development of China's economy and the development of the Internet in recent years, more and more Chinese students are going abroad to study abroad, and more and more people are studying in China. The thinking of Chinese and Western students The collision has made more and more Chinese college students realize that they should take the initiative to bear the tuition fees during college.

As mentioned earlier, more than 60% of American students pay for college tuition through loans. There are two types of student loans in the United States, federal loans and private bank loans. Federal loans are further divided into Stanford Loans, PLUS Loans, and federal Perkins Loans. The interest rate for Stanford loans is 3.4, while the interest rate for parent loans is 6.8.

Federal loans can only borrow $23,000 in total over four years, which also forces a large number of students to apply for commercial loans with higher interest rates, with an average interest rate of 8. High student loans have become a huge burden for many college students in the United States.

Nowadays, Chinese university tuition fees are generally 4,000-6,000 yuan per year, which is much cheaper than American university tuition fees. Students choose to take loans to pay tuition fees. After graduation, according to China’s current salary levels, the repayment pressure is not very high. big.

In addition, the promotion of credit reporting in my country started later than abroad, and the credit level of college students is not high. As a result, many commercial banks do not lend to college students and no longer issue credit cards.

But in addition to tuition loans, college students also have other funding needs. Such as living expenses, training expenses, study abroad expenses, exchange student expenses, etc. Commercial banks do not provide financial loan services in these aspects.

The above shows why foreign college students are accustomed to taking out loans to pay their tuition fees, while Chinese college students have to rely on their parents.

Currently, tuition loans in mainland China are mainly borne by national student loans. However, as mentioned earlier, the proportion of students who can successfully apply for loans is very small.

On the one hand, the financial services provided by commercial banks for college students are lacking, and on the other hand, the review is relatively strict. Therefore, college students also lack ways to obtain commercial student loans. (jrzhuxue)

Summary: Economically, due to the rapid growth of the national economy in the past thirty years, the tuition burden does not account for a large proportion of family expenditures; Culturally: Chinese parents have high hopes for their children to become successful, and generally I hope that my children can study with peace of mind without being affected by any external factors; institutionally, due to historical factors, China’s public universities account for a large proportion and bear a large part of the schooling funds, so the tuition fees are relatively low, and there is no pressure on Chinese families to afford tuition fees. So big abroad.