China will increase national scholarships and financial assistance for college students, the Ministry of Finance said on Saturday.
The Ministry of Finance will double quotas for national scholarships, increase the amount of scholarships for outstanding college students, raise the level of financial assistance granted to college students in need, and step up support for national student loan borrowers this year, Vice Minister of Finance Guo Tingting told reporters at a press conference in Beijing.
"The annual national scholarship quota for undergraduate and junior college students will be raised from 60,000 to 120,000, while the quotas for master's students and doctoral students will be raised from 35,000 to 70,000 and from 10,000 to 20,000, respectively," Guo said.
"The amount of national scholarship for each undergraduate and junior college student will be increased from 8,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per year, and the amount of national encouragement scholarship for each undergraduate and junior college student will be raised from 5,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan per year," she said.
"The average amount of national grants will be hiked from 3,300 yuan per year to 3,700 yuan per year for each undergraduate and junior college student starting from autumn semester 2024," according to Guo.
"The maximum loan amount for undergraduate and junior college students will rise from 16,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan per year, and that for graduate students will rise from 20,000 yuan to 25,000 yuan per year. The interest rate will be reduced to 70 basis points lower than the loan prime rate of the same grade in the same period," Guo said.
China will also raise the amount of academic scholarships for graduate students in 2025, increase national grants for ordinary high school students, and expand the range and amount of national grants for secondary vocational school students, Guo added.
China to increase financial support for college students
The incremental fiscal policies announced by China's Ministry of Finance on Saturday will effectively promote people's livelihood and stabilize the housing market amid the country's countercyclical regulation process, said financial experts on Saturday.
At a press conference in Beijing on Saturday, officials of the Ministry of Finance expounded on various supportive fiscal measures including issuing funding subsidies for groups in need, promoting affordable housing, and strengthening guarantee measures at grassroots level.
Experts said that one of the main challenges facing China's current economic recovery is insufficient consumer demand, and improving people's livelihood and increasing residents' disposable income are the important ways to expand domestic demand for economic rebound.
"In the past, when we talked about the active fiscal policies, we usually meant increasing the investment in infrastructure. This time, we also made some attempts in consumption to increase their spending power," said Zhu Qing, chief professor of the Institute of Public Finance and Taxation at Renmin University.
"As we have noticed, incremental fiscal policies not only play a role in countercyclical regulation on the macro economy, this policy also focuses on improving people's livelihood amid the regulation process. Finance is the foundation and an important pillar of national governance, which is reflected in many aspects. Its role in improving people's livelihood has also been fully reflected in these incremental fiscal policies," said Yang Zhiyong, director of the Center for Public Finance and Taxation Research at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Regarding the housing sector, experts said that land transfer income is one of the important incomes for local governments, and housing and people's livelihood are closely related, therefore stabilizing the housing market is crucial to the sounding development of national economy.
"The Ministry of Finance encourages local governments to appropriately purchase and store some houses as affordable housing by issuing special bonds, and to purchase and store land within an appropriate range. This will play an important role in ensuring the stability of the real estate industry, especially in stopping the decline and stabilizing housing prices," said Qiao Baoyun, dean of China Academy of Public Finance and Public Policy under Central University of Finance and Economics.
China's incremental fiscal polices to effectively promote livelihood, stabilize housing market: experts
