Chinese university monitors lunch spending to spot grant fraud

WUHAN - What is the best way to decide whether a student is poor enough to deserve a state grant? According to one Chinese university, you just need to look at their lunch money.

Huazhong Agriculture University is using students' lunch spending at campus canteens to distinguish between genuinely poor students and a few who falsely claim financial hardship to qualify for state funds.

Students at Chinese universities generally use their student cards to pay for meals at the campus canteen, making spending data easy to track. The finances of students on grants will be subject to investigation if their lunch spending is in the top ten percent of student spending.

"If a student is found not to qualify as poor, he/she will be taken off the list and lose their state grants," said Li Jing, deputy director of the university's student grant management center.

Li added that lunch money, though not a decisive factor, will be considered in the daily management of student grants.

"If you spend more than 6.2 yuan (roughly one US dollar) each meal, it is very likely you will lose your grant," said one student on the university's online forum, though the school said the estimate is inaccurate.

Under university rules, each poor student receives 2,000 to 4,000 yuan in state grants (about 317 to 634 US dollars) annually. Poor students are also favored for other scholarships and awards.

In 2014, a total of 4,668 students, about one-fourth of the university's total, received grants. Li said the university has no quantitative standards to decide whether a student is poor or not.

"There is no campus 'poverty line,' because every year the situation is different," said Li.

"Each year, the students are asked to submit an application form, followed by an appraisal by his or her instructor and the college. Their information is collected in a university database," said Li.

However, this method, which has been adopted by many Chinese universities, has its loopholes.

"We found many students provide false information to gain grants. On the other hand, some students from poor families refuse to fill out the application and disclose they are living in poverty. By doing so, their self-respect may be damaged," said Li.

That has made it difficult for the university to tell who is really poor.

"We try to improve accuracy and do a lot of cross-checking to discern false information," he said.

Before implementing the lunch money rule, school authorities conducted a survey. It polled 89 freshmen on the grant list and found that they all spent less than the average on meals.

School staff who conducted the research claimed that lunch spending has a strong correlation with the financial reality of the students.

There are nine canteens on campus, located in the southern suburbs of Wuhan. "Students have few opportunities to dine outside the campus, and most of their lunch money has to be spent in school canteens," Li said.

This month, the finances of 30 students in the college of Gardening and Forestry designated as "poor" will be investigated. Those under investigation have lunch and dinner spending that ranks among the top ten percent of students.

"The college will carry out a detailed investigation and collect comprehensive information. If these students are not really poor, they will be taken off the list and lose their grants," said Jin Shuai, a student counselor at the college.

The rule has been met with mixed responses, with many saying it infringes upon the privacy of the students and is disrespectful to the basic rights of poor students.

"What if I had a big stomach and regularly eat a lot? What if I'm ill and need good food for nutrition?" asked one student, who refused to be named.

"If those fake poor students go binge drinking and eating outside the campus and spend little at campus canteens, the rules will have no use at all," another said.

Other students said they understand why the university needs to use the information. "University students come from all around the country, and it is hard to know their real conditions," one student surnamed Xu said.

"The university should improve communication and transparency if they want to collect certain data," advised Fan Xianzuo, an educational science scholar at Central China Normal University, also based in Wuhan.

"At the same time, ethics education needs to be offered to students, and those who submit false information to claim grants should be punished," he added.