Students stayed on campus to save money
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-02-15 01:23

Many Beijing college students, who could not afford trip back home to join their families on the Spring Festival holidays, have chosen to stay on campus for part- time jobs, according to a recent survey conducted among some 12 universities in Beijing.

On the basis of 186 questionnaires back from the total of 201 sent out to the universities, the survey, aiming at the students from poor families, indicated that 31.5 percent of the needed students lived on less than 300 yuan (36 US dollars) each month and 37.3 percent of them earned money from part-time jobs. Meanwhile, 26.1 percent said they received financial assistance from families, relatives and 11.1 percent were granted governmental aid.

As for how many times they went home each year, 59.4 percent said twice a year, 34.8 percent said one time a year and 5.8 percent said none.

To those from poor families, going home for Spring Festival was rather a luxury and staying at college and working part-time sounded reasonable. In the survey, 66.5 percent said they remained to earn some money for next semester and 15.7 percent said they could not afford the traveling fees.

The same situation happened in many cities. In Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin province, university management found more students choose to stay on campus in holidays.

A junior student surnamed Yu at the Jilin University decided to take a temporary job that would bring him some 700 yuan (84 US dollars) during the Spring Festival holidays. He thought it a waste of time and money to go back to his rural hometown on holidays though he told that he missed his parents so much. "At least, I could earn some money here in Changchun," Yu said.

At the same time, some students were reluctant to go home due to tight transport and climate differences while some others chose to stay on campus to prepare for near future tests, said Zhou Fuyan professor of sociology at the Liaoning University.

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