Chinese university diplomas are continuously devalued, and the phenomenon of graduating from university only to be unemployed is widespread. However, university tuition fees continue to rise. Students who are about to enter in the fall of 2025 have found that university tuition fees have increased again. Why is this phenomenon happening?
In May of this year, a Douyin influencer named “Yŭ shàng’àn de Lǐ yā” shared a video where she talked about how her mother set up a stall to put her through university, spending tens of thousands of yuan to get her into medical school. However, after graduating, she also started working at a stall.
In the video, she introduced herself as a 25-year-old from Guangxi, a graduate of Dalian Medical University – Zhongshan College. After graduating, she worked at a hospital but the job did not align with her major, so she resigned after two years. Earlier this year, she took the civil service exam, and after that, she started selling mango ice cream at a stall while also working as a self-media creator to document her stall experience.
Subsequently, on June 27, she received a call from the school asking her to take down the video as it was affecting the school’s reputation. On July 2, this topic quickly became a hot search on the mainland Chinese internet.
In recent years, similar examples have frequently been seen online, with university graduates and even postgraduates resorting to stalls, food delivery, or returning to agricultural work because they cannot find suitable jobs, highlighting the decreasing value of university diplomas.
Professor Xie Tian from the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina expressed to Dajiyuan that the depreciation of Chinese university diplomas is a result of the “blind expansion of Chinese universities” and that the entire education system is distorted, unable to provide graduates that the market truly needs.
According to mainland Chinese media reports, from 1998 to 2023, the number of undergraduate enrollments in China has increased by 7.3 times, resulting in a gradual decline in the “gold content” of undergraduate degrees. During the same period, the enrollment of master’s students in Chinese universities has increased nearly 20 times, and the enrollment of doctoral students has increased nearly 10 times. This rapid expansion of graduate education has led to the devaluation of graduate diplomas, further depreciating undergraduate degrees.
Historian Li Yuanhua criticized further, stating that the Chinese Communist Party has always been inclined toward bureaucracy, with university admissions being controlled by national plans, leading to a disconnect with society. Programs that are no longer needed or suitable for the market continue to admit students, ultimately resulting in graduates being unable to find jobs in their fields. These are some of the reasons contributing to the devaluation of diplomas.
Data from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that about 33% of university graduates work in jobs unrelated to their major. A report by Sina Education stated that only 26% of graduates said their jobs were “aligned” with their major. Many undergraduate graduates are forced to switch to fields such as flexible employment, marketing, and services.
It was reported that in 2025, university tuition fees in more than twenty provinces in China were raised, with an average increase of 10% to 15%, and in some areas such as Shanghai, Sichuan, and Jilin, the average increase was as high as 20% to 35%. The tuition increase at private universities exceeded that of public institutions.
For example, the tuition fee at Beijing Jiaotong University, a key “211” university, increased from 85,000 yuan per year in 2024 to 105,000 yuan, a net increase of 20,000 yuan, or about 24%. The tuition fee at Hubei University of Technology, a key provincial university, increased from 35,000 yuan in 2024 to 45,000 yuan, a net increase of 10,000 yuan, a 28% rise.
Yunnan Dali University, a provincially funded ordinary university, also saw an increase in tuition from 9,500 yuan in 2024 to 10,000 yuan, a net increase of 500 yuan, exceeding 5%.
Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, a private university, raised its tuition from 50,000 yuan in 2024 to 68,000 yuan, a net increase of 18,000 yuan, a 36% increase.
Regarding the sharp rise in university tuition fees, Li Yuanhua believes that the main reason is the decline of the Chinese economy and inflation, coupled with a reduction in government investment in education. As daily expenses of schools remain, they resort to the simplest solution – raising tuition fees – to fill the financial gap.
Reportedly, in 2025, the Chinese Ministry of Education allocated 114.3 billion yuan for higher education, a decrease of about 4.7% from 2024. Financial personnel at universities stated, “The training cost of some departments cannot survive without raising prices.”
Xie Tian also pointed out that amid China’s economic decline, the reduced government funding for universities, coupled with continued expansion, has led to rapid expansion without sufficient teaching resources. Therefore, universities have no choice but to increase various fees, including raising tuition fees.
The number of candidates for the 2025 Chinese College Entrance Exam was 13.35 million, yet private universities are facing a shortage of students. Mainland Chinese media reported that a private university in Shanghai experienced a “cut-off” in admissions in 2024 and achieved a record of “zero applicants” in the initial application phase this year.
According to Chinese Ministry of Education data from 2023, there are over 3,000 universities in China, with 789 being private institutions, accounting for a quarter of the total, with over 9.9 million students enrolled.
Why do private universities face enrollment difficulties despite the significant number of candidates for the College Entrance Exam?
Li Yuanhua explained that in the past, students who failed to enter regular schools would opt for private universities which had much higher tuition fees. Now, with the depreciation of diplomas, people have realized, “Why spend so much money on a degree that is not valuable?” Moreover, “many ordinary families cannot even afford the tuition fees of public schools, let alone those of private institutions.”
Xie Tian believes that with the trend of a declining birth rate and fewer students attending schools, private universities and private schools will be the first to be impacted. With the declining population, “private universities will face an existential crisis.”
For private universities, “enrollment” equals “income.” Many private schools are backed by for-profit educational groups, with net profits reaching astonishing levels, such as 38.7% for Zhongjiao Holdings and 47.2% for Yuhua Education.
Since the late 1990s, the Chinese Communist Party has industrialized the management of education in China, allowing schools to charge tuition, miscellaneous fees, and various sponsorships to reduce government investment in education.
Li Yuanhua criticized, stating that while the Chinese government reduces investment in education domestically, it invests heavily in Africa and scholarships for African students. Coupled with excessive administrative intervention in education by the Chinese government, this has disrupted the entire education market. Amid economic decline, this kind of industrialized education is likely to collapse eventually and cannot be sustained.
Additionally, Li Yuanhua believes that as kindergartens and primary schools are closing due to declining population pressures, the surplus problem in universities will also arise in the next decade. At that point, “the industrialization of Chinese education could collapse at any time.”
Xie Tian expressed, “The Chinese Communist Party treating education as an industry is a mistake in central decision-making, or a crime against the country’s future. In reality, treating education and healthcare as industries for profit is unimaginable in normal countries.”