【Epoch Times News, November 25, 2024】A financially disadvantaged student at Zhejiang University caused controversy by sharing travel photos from multiple domestic and international locations on their social media, leading to the university canceling their sponsorship.
Recently, a netizen posted on a social media platform that a financially struggling student in the School of Media and International Culture at Zhejiang University, named Fang, who receives school financial aid, posted pictures of their travels to various domestic and international destinations. The screenshots shared by the netizen showed Fang’s posts on WeChat with locations tagged from cities like Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai, Dalian, Jeju Island in South Korea, and Osaka in Japan. This post sparked widespread attention.
In response to the online questioning, on November 22, Fang posted on the campus forum explaining that currently, their parents are unable to support their living expenses and tuition. Their father’s business failed with debts exceeding 3 million yuan, and now he works part-time to make ends meet, while their mother works in a shoe factory in Fujian, supporting their younger brother’s insurance, living expenses, and shared debts as the family struggles to make ends meet.
Fang listed their sources of income, mainly consisting of labor remuneration, part-time tutoring, scholarship awards, competition prizes, poverty assistance, and minimal red envelopes from their parents.
Fang emphasized that the funds for these travels primarily came from their personal income and not the sponsorship money, providing bank statements and Alipay bills as evidence.
On November 23, the School of Media and International Culture at Zhejiang University issued a statement reporting that Fang is a 2021 undergraduate student in the School of Media and International Culture. They were recognized as a sponsored student for the academic years 2021-2022, 2023-2024, and the autumn-winter semester of 2024-2025, while due to a slight easing of financial difficulties in the academic year 2022-2023, they did not apply for sponsorship. The evaluation process and application materials for the sponsorship were in compliance with regulations. Since the beginning of this year, the student had traveled to various places, including going on three trips.
According to the report, Fang underwent a written examination and subsequently had their sponsorship revoked.
This incident has sparked heated discussions online.
Video blogger and Weibo influencer, “Believe in Uncle’s Historical Fixes,” commented, “A ‘poor student’ traveling all over Japan and Korea, what kind of joke is this? It’s not that students can’t travel, but the subsidy should be given to truly struggling students.”
Lawyer Yang Wenzhan of Beijing Zhongdun Law Firm posted, “It’s not uncommon for people who claim low-income subsidies to be found ineligible in the end. If the poverty certificate and actual living conditions are different, the real-life situation is probably more believable. I just can’t understand how a ‘poor student’ can afford to travel domestically and internationally.”
Some netizens stated, “Students from financially challenged families usually work hard during their free time to supplement their family’s income and wouldn’t spend a lot of money on traveling, let alone traveling abroad. Anyone who can afford to travel abroad is not truly impoverished.”
“People in real extreme poverty are afraid to even order meat when eating, they only have plain rice and vegetable soup, and they spend time in the school cafeteria or distributing flyers outside to earn their meals. They wear whatever clothes and shoes they have and are very frugal with money, never considering international travel even with a monthly income of over 10,000 yuan. Yet, someone in such a situation is still considered a ‘poor student’ just because they can travel abroad?”
“Units and individuals who issue fake certificates should bear legal responsibilities for their actions. The responsible parties must be held accountable.”
Additionally, public records show that Fang has been recommended for graduate studies in Communication at Tsinghua University. On November 22, Tsinghua University told Gimme News that they had received reports concerning the student in question and are currently investigating the matter.