The problem of impecunious undergraduates
...e hardly has money to eat, not to mention buy new dresses, books or other stuff. A faded and worn light jacket is the only warm cloth for her to go through the tough winter in Jinan. Ping’s family was all right since it only has two children to cultivate, until in the second semester of our university, her mother killed herself because of pressure. This sudden catastrophe put Ping and her family to the edge of breakdown. What’s more cruel and dismay waiting for her is the fact that since her father is the only labor force in the family, he has to withdraw from the save to hardly afford Ping’s all the spending during university and there’s no more left for her to advance a graduate-level study to become a lecturer in college as she long wishes to. Unfortunately, this kind of cases is not rare but widespread. A recent report says that the average rate of impecunious undergraduates in China is up to 20%, which means about 2,400,000. Statistics also shows us that a university student’s expenditure of 4 years is equivalent to the net income of 35 years of a peasant in indigent regions. You may also have heard so much about this kind of stories through personal experience or public media, like TV, newspapers or Internet. However, it is different when you see these people in person struggling hard and being defeated unwillingly at last by the cruel reality only because of a small quantity of money. There must be some ways to solve this pervasive problem and help those poor students out of trouble. Personal subsidizing is one way and the most firsthand way. This means that people, especially undergraduates who come from well-to-do families, provide some help straightly to the needy students around them. It is not calling for much money. Even 10 or 20 yuan can meet their basic needs for one or two weeks, which is almost meaningless for those “rich” students. Nevertheless, though quick and straight enough, this method calls for voluntarism and so is not far-ranging. It also evolve a complex question about self-dignity against sympathy, so it can only solve a limited part of the problem. Social concerning is another important way. Public media has attracted more and more persons in the society to care about the plight of the needy students, and it will raise more private patronage from individuals and businesses of the whole nation or even from foreign counties. Also, it will attract the concern of the personal or organizational charities and educational Funds, which usually put their focuses on mandatory education but neglect the higher education to some extent. Through this way, a substantial amount of students will be benefited. Yet, the most important responsibility for this problem should be laid on the local and national governments, which have the most powerful, practical and far-reaching strength to solve the national affairs. By setting up regulations or law...