April 27, 2011
The amount of remittances from parents to private university students to help with living expenses in the Tokyo metropolitan area have fallen to record lows so students living away from home are struggling to survive on bare minimums.
A survey by the Association of Private University Union in the Tokyo Area conducted at 18 private universities in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi prefectures shows that parents are only able to send their children an average of 91,600 yen per month for living and school expenses.
Deducting their rent from money sent to them by their parents, they have an average of 1,067 yen per day to live on, including payment for utilities.
The amount of money needed for the first year at university amounts to 2.99 million yen on average, accounting for 34% of the average annual income of families whose children go to private universities.
One out of five parents borrowed money for their children’s entrance fees, amounting to 1,579,000 yen on average. The percentage of families hoping to receive scholarship money was 67.9%.
The union also suggests the possibility that many freshmen students from the March 11 disaster-hit region cannot go to universities in the Tokyo metropolitan area due to financial constraints.
Given that the aftermath of the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident will affect Japan’s future economy, more students may have to give up pursuing university studies, the union predicts.
A survey by the Association of Private University Union in the Tokyo Area conducted at 18 private universities in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi prefectures shows that parents are only able to send their children an average of 91,600 yen per month for living and school expenses.
Deducting their rent from money sent to them by their parents, they have an average of 1,067 yen per day to live on, including payment for utilities.
The amount of money needed for the first year at university amounts to 2.99 million yen on average, accounting for 34% of the average annual income of families whose children go to private universities.
One out of five parents borrowed money for their children’s entrance fees, amounting to 1,579,000 yen on average. The percentage of families hoping to receive scholarship money was 67.9%.
The union also suggests the possibility that many freshmen students from the March 11 disaster-hit region cannot go to universities in the Tokyo metropolitan area due to financial constraints.
Given that the aftermath of the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident will affect Japan’s future economy, more students may have to give up pursuing university studies, the union predicts.
