Sending their children to university is the major hope of many Chinese families.
But continuous increases in tuition fees are making it increasingly difficult for some families.
For a girl surnamed Tao living on the outskirts of Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, hearing that she will be admitted to a famous local university brought a burden to her family.
Tao said she would pay 5,850 yuan (US$710) in tuition for the coming school year, along with the 800 to 1200 yuan (US$97-145) accommodation fees and additional charges of 1,360 yuan (US$165).
These fees account for almost half of her father's annual income, not to mention costs for textbooks and daily living expenses.
Many universities in Wuhan have increased their tuition fees by almost 30 per cent this year.
At the prestigious Wuhan University, tuition fees for art design and broadcasting are 9,000 yuan (US$1,100) a year, and 7,500 yuan (US$910) for medicine.
The university charges 5,850 yuan (US$710) a year for more than 60 majors, and 4,500 yuan (US$540) for another 20 programmes.
However, the average tuition fee at the university was 4,500 yuan last year, equal to the lowest charges this year, says the report.
The Hubei Provincial Prices Bureau claimed that the tuition fee rises were the result of the universities' increased costs.
But some parents complained about the charges, saying the fee standards were set without taking their real-life situation into account. Others have argued that educational quality has not improved much even though the fees have increased.
An unnamed analyst voiced his opinion on people.com.cn, saying a public hearing is needed on tuition fee rises, since ever-increasing tuition fees are too heavy a burden for many Chinese college students and their parents,
Jiangsu Province tuition fee increase questioned
Representatives attending a hearing on a draft plan for an all-in-one education fee system for East China's Jiangsu Province have questioned the raising of tuition fees for nine-year compulsory education by 20 per cent.
Nineteen representatives, including educationalists, officials, students, their parents, members of the public and reporters, attended the hearing last Friday in Nanjing, the provincial capital.
The hearing was one of many being held across the nation on the one-fee system for education which will be introduced this autumn.
Ma Xinnian, director of the Finance Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Education Bureau, announced the uniform tuition system draft plan for primary school (six years) and junior secondary school (three years) education.
Three kinds of fees would be charged according to a unified standard, they are tuition fees, textbook fees and exercise book fees, among which the maximum limit of tuition fees would increase by 20 per cent.
For example, the tuition fees for a junior secondary school student in southern Jiangsu is currently 108 yuan (US$13) per term, while the maximum listed in the plan is 130 yuan (US$15.7) per term.
Besides the fees mentioned, there are another seven service fees in the draft. Schools can charge these fees when they provide services such as dormitories, health examinations, organizing social activities and school uniforms.
The draft plan also said the textbook fee would fall through the reform of the textbook publishing management system.
A special fund of 11 million yuan (US$1.33 million) will be established to provide free textbooks to the province's poverty-stricken students.
And blind, deaf and mute students will enjoy a partial or total waiver of tuition fees and textbook fees, and a living allowance.
"The rise in tuition fees is mainly a result of increased educational costs and increased incomes over the past four years," said Ma.
Half of the 16 primary and junior secondary schools covered in a 2003 audit received insufficient income to cover their expenses.
And teachers in some districts, due to local financial constraints, are only able to receive their basic wage, but no bonuses.
Dai Jiucai, an accountant at Tianyuan Accounting Firm, which conducted the audit, told at the hearing that they had audited both the education expenditure and income of 16 schools in Nanjing, Yangzhou, Xuzhou and Wuxi.
He said decisions ought not to be based on the 2003 statistics, as they only dealt with 16 schools in four cities.
"The tuition fee should not be raised simply because people's incomes are increasing," said Sun Yimin, a parent representative and a laid-off worker from Yancheng, "The rise violates the original intention of one-fee system, which is to reduce the parents' burden."
Guo Jincheng, a representative of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, thought the fee rise was understandable, but the 20 per cent margin was too high.
"The price can be increased step by step, and finally reach this markup in several years' time," he said.
Gong Liting, a businessman from Wuxi, suggested that developed districts carry out a zero fee system.
"Jiangsu is an economically developed province which should have the ability to cancel all of the fees for nine-year compulsory education," he said.
Five school principals attended the hearing, all of whom pointed to the problems resulting from their inadequate finances.
