From The EastSouthWestNorth blog:
[translation] According to the China Youth Daily, the Jilin Provincial Government Reseach Center conducted a study of students at a senior secondary school in a rural county. 28.7% of the students said that they were afraid of attending university, because their family cannot afford the university fees.
According to the study by the Jilin Provincial Government Research Center, in 2004, the average university tuition fee was 6,000 RMB, the average room chrage was 1,000 RMB and the average food expenses was 4,800 RMB. Combining the three items, university students need 11,800 RMB whereas the average net income for Jilin rural residents was 3,000.42 RMB. That is to say, each university student requires the net income of four rural peasants.