By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

As the new semester starts, Tsinghua welcomes over 3,300 freshmen, including a number of excellent students from low-income families and the Wenchuan Earthquake-hit area. The University’s financial support enables them to begin their university lives without having to worry about tuition and other expenses.

Zhang Xiaowen, a freshman in Tsinghua’s Department of Electronic Engineering, comes from a low-income family. She is one of the beneficiaries of Tsinghua’s Green Channel financial assistance system. “Before I entered school, I already had heard that Tsinghua provides various forms of assistance to students from low-income families,” Zhang said.

Tsinghua University prides itself on the considerable attention it traditionally devotes to scholarship programs and other forms of financial assistance it provides for the benefit of college students. These days Tsinghua is actively living up to its promise—no diligent, talented student need be denied the opportunity for a college education due to economic difficulties.

In 2008, Tsinghua has increased its student aid budget from an average of RMB 6,500 to an average of RMB 11,000 each year for each student who demonstrates need. That amount covers almost all the fees and expenses a student faces to complete his studies for an academic year. Not only new students are eligible for these new levels of assistance. Other undergraduate students who have financial difficulties can also apply for such aid.