Chinanews.com, Beijing, November 11 (Wei Xianghui) Recently, the issuance of college student grants in many colleges and universities has caused heated discussions on the Internet. Why do students question the criteria for identifying poor students? How to improve the funding method?
"Poor students" consume excessively, and colleges and universities stop issuing grants
On November 11, the Student Financial Aid Management Center of Sun Yat-sen University issued a circular: On November 15, the Student Financial Aid Management Center of Sun Yat-sen University received a report about the flaunting of wealth and excessive consumption of Zhao Moumou, a student from a financially disadvantaged family in our school, and his college and our center quickly launched an investigation procedure.
After verification, the identification procedures for the student to be identified as a student with financial difficulties are standardized, the materials are complete, and the relevant regulations are complied with. However, in the inspection, it was found that the survival was not frugal and over-consumed. In accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 3 of Article 21 of the Measures for the Administration of Undergraduate Grants of Sun Yat-sen University, it was decided to terminate the issuance of grants.
It is reported that a post on the Internet previously said that a particularly poor student of the school's Sino-French School of Nuclear Engineering and Technology who received a scholarship used an Apple series of four-piece sets (generally referring to Apple-branded mobile phones, computers, tablets and watches), worth 2,1517 yuan, and also bought concert tickets worth <>,<> yuan. The student ID information of the student who received the financial aid was also disclosed.
Data map: Sun Yat-sen University campus Photo by China News Service reporter Chen Jimin
At present, the state's financial assistance for poor students includes three parts: national scholarship, national inspirational scholarship and national grant. Among them, the National Scholarship is used to reward particularly outstanding students. Students can apply for the National Scholarship from the second year onwards, with 8000,5000 yuan per person per year. The National Encouragement Scholarship is used to reward students with financial difficulties who are excellent in character and academics, and students can apply from the second year onwards, with <>,<> yuan per person per year.
The subsidy standard of the national bursary is 1000,3000 yuan to 9,<> yuan, which can be divided into two to three levels. Students apply to colleges and universities in September each year with the "Questionnaire on the Situation of Students and Families in Higher Education Institutions", and the bursary is assessed once a year.
Chinanews has learned that in addition to the national scholarship and grant policy, universities and secondary colleges have also set up a number of scholarships to reward and help students with outstanding grades. There is also a parallel funding system for student loans, tuition compensation, loan repayment and tuition waiver, "green channel", work-study and other methods.
Poverty or not poverty, why is the determination standard controversial?
Recently, a number of colleges and universities have been mired in controversy over the selection of bursaries. In September, a student at the Sino-German University of Applied Sciences in Tianjin posted online videos of unfair treatment in the evaluation of financial aid. He claimed to be an orphan, but he was not selected for the bursary assessment for students with difficulties in his class.
On November 11, Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences issued a circular, and after investigation, the reported content was untrue, and the family and personal circumstances of the other two students involved met the conditions for funding difficult students. No falsification of materials was found, and the assessment complied with relevant regulations, and no "dereliction of duty and abuse of power" was found.
On October 10, Tang, a student who received a scholarship from Zhejiang Guangsha Construction Vocational and Technical University, was notified by the counselor to delete his circle of friends who went to the concert, and the student posted a screenshot of the chat with the counselor in the circle of friends, and mentioned "24 yuan is not expensive, I bought it with my own money." After the incident aroused concern, on November 520, the school's staff responded that after investigation and verification, Tang's qualifications for applying for national grants met the standards.
Judging from the response of the university, Sun Yat-sen University, Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences, and Zhejiang Guangsha Vocational and Technical University all believe that the students' application qualifications meet the standards after investigation and verification. This means that there may not be a problem with the school procedurally, but what is at issue for students and the public is the poverty criteria themselves.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance issued the "Guiding Opinions on Conscientiously Doing a Good Job in the Identification of Students from Families with Financial Difficulties in Institutions of Higher Education", which clarifies the assessment organizations and the criteria for the identification of students with financial difficulties.
A person who is engaged in student-related work in colleges and universities told Chinanews that taking his school as an example, the bursary is mainly based on the degree of poverty. Difficult households are the first threshold, and then screened based on whether there is a failure in academic performance. The school will allocate places to each class according to the proportion, and then each class will have a class teacher and the whole class to conduct a democratic evaluation.
It is an important poverty alleviation measure launched since 2013 to achieve targeted poverty alleviation through the establishment of detailed information files of poor households. In 2020, after the poverty alleviation of poor households across the country, the state stipulates that the poverty alleviation households will still have five years of assistance policies.
However, poverty filing is based on feedback from the student's place of origin. The above-mentioned university workers told Chinanews that in some provinces with better economic conditions, the criteria for identifying poor students in economically underdeveloped areas may not be the same. So there's a situation where this person is holding a 'family bucket of apples,' but also taking a bursary. You can't say that he is not qualified, because there is nothing wrong with the link, he has proof of poverty, and he studies hard. The person said.
In his view, everyone's consumption planning is different, and it is not possible to look at the living standards of students from the outside. "There may be some students who people think it doesn't seem that difficult but they get the grant, and there are some people who do have other secrets at home, and we know about it, but we can't disclose it to all the students in the college." He said that at the university where he works, students who are really in difficulty will definitely be able to receive subsidies.
From "unpaid" to "paid", how to improve the funding method?
Chinanews noted that in recent years, a number of university related personnel, experts and scholars have discussed the problems and improvement strategies in the evaluation and distribution of university grants.
Some scholars pointed out that at present, when grants are issued to colleges and universities, the aided students only enjoy relevant rights and do not need to perform their obligations, which also directly explains the characteristics of the gratuitous nature of the grants.
Scholars believe that this kind of free funding nourishes the psychology of some poor students to obtain financial aid as a matter of course, which is very unfavorable to the correct formation of these students' outlook on life, world outlook and values, and is not conducive to the formation of a good social atmosphere. It is suggested that consideration should be given to changing the "free" subsidy to "paid" subsidy, allowing the aided students to participate in on-campus work-study or volunteer activities, etc., which not only respects the personality and privacy of students, but also achieves the purpose of student assistance.
Some scholars also pointed out that when organizing specific evaluation work by adopting various forms of evaluation mechanisms, in addition to class group selection and class student selection, it is also possible to establish a mutual evaluation mechanism between classes, grades or colleges, so as to avoid the unfairness caused by preferences between acquaintances.
At the same time, a number of universities are already exploring innovative funding methods. For example, Nanjing University of Science and Technology's "Warm Heart Meal Card" project uses big data technology to achieve effective data screening, and at the same time gives full play to the function of counselors, realizes the effective supplementation of information of aided personnel, realizes the accurate identification of funding objects, and quietly sends warm hearts to students without applying. According to the current price situation and data screening, the subsidy standard is currently adjusted to not less than 60 meals per month in the canteen, and the average monthly consumption is not higher than 750 yuan, and the difference between the average monthly canteen consumption amount of the aided students and the subsidy limit is the monthly subsidy amount.
In addition, the follow-up survey of aided students has also attracted the attention of colleges and universities. The Student Financial Aid Management Center of Dongguan Institute of Technology will organize all secondary colleges to carry out the investigation of the basic situation of students with financial difficulties, establish and improve the files of students with financial difficulties, and conduct follow-up surveys on the aided students into their work responsibilities. (ENDS)