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BEIJING - A CHINESE university has banned 440 students from sitting for their final examinations because they owe more than 14 million yuan (S$2.8 million) in tuition fees, accusing them of using the money to invest, a newspaper reported yesterday.
China has sought to bridge a yawning wealth gap between affluent cities and the impoverished countryside by waiving compulsory education fees for rural students, but a college education still remains out of reach for most.
But the Hebei University of Technology said some of the students who had not paid their dues were using the tuition money to make investments, the Beijing Times reported.
'We discovered that some of the students have put their tuition money into banks to accrue interest, or play the stock market, or do business,' university spokesman Qu Zhenguang told the Beijing Times.
'It is obvious they are maliciously withholding tuition.'
Some students at the college, in the province adjoining Beijing, cited their poverty.
'My home is in the countryside, and our annual income is only a few thousand yuan,' said third-year architecture student Liu Qingsong, who has been banned from his finals because he was unable to pay 27,000 yuan in fees, the Beijing Times said.
In his spare time, he was earning 200 to 300 yuan a month as a waiter.
According to school statistics, more than 2,000 students owed more than 50 million yuan in unpaid fees last October, but many had since paid up.
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