April 7, 2016
Private university students living alone in the Tokyo metropolitan area have on average only 850 yen a day to cover their daily expenses, a private university teaching staff union on April 6 announced.
The Tokyo Federation of Private University Faculty and Staff Unions has annually surveyed the financial burdens for parents whose sons and daughters entered private universities and colleges in the five prefectures in the capital region, including Tokyo and Kanagawa.
Results of the latest survey which the union conducted between May and July 2015 showed that the amount of remittances from parents to private university students to support their living expenses stood at 86,700 yen on average a month, the 15th straight yearly decline since 2001. Deducting their rent from the money sent from their parents, they have an average of 850 yen per day to live on, the lowest since the union survey began. For comparison, the average hourly minimum wage in the five prefectures is 839 yen.
In the same survey, 17.9% of 4,568 respondent households borrowed the money needed to cover admission-related fees. The average amount borrowed increased by 23,000 yen from the previous survey to a record high of 1.83 million yen.
For parents whose children left home to attend college, the money needed for the first year at university amounts to 2.95 million yen which accounts for 32.8% of annual household income on average. In the survey, 90% of families said that they feel that they are shouldering a heavy burden paying for university education.
The union said that it is difficult for parents of private university students to come up with the excessively heavy financial burdens of educational costs. It expressed its determination to urge the government to implement necessary measures such as an increase in state subsidies for private universities and the improvement in scholarship programs in order to reduce financial burdens for families.
Past related articles:
> Debts of freshmen in private universities hit record high [ April 4, 2015]
> Private university students in Tokyo areas living hard lives [April 27, 2011]
The Tokyo Federation of Private University Faculty and Staff Unions has annually surveyed the financial burdens for parents whose sons and daughters entered private universities and colleges in the five prefectures in the capital region, including Tokyo and Kanagawa.
Results of the latest survey which the union conducted between May and July 2015 showed that the amount of remittances from parents to private university students to support their living expenses stood at 86,700 yen on average a month, the 15th straight yearly decline since 2001. Deducting their rent from the money sent from their parents, they have an average of 850 yen per day to live on, the lowest since the union survey began. For comparison, the average hourly minimum wage in the five prefectures is 839 yen.
In the same survey, 17.9% of 4,568 respondent households borrowed the money needed to cover admission-related fees. The average amount borrowed increased by 23,000 yen from the previous survey to a record high of 1.83 million yen.
For parents whose children left home to attend college, the money needed for the first year at university amounts to 2.95 million yen which accounts for 32.8% of annual household income on average. In the survey, 90% of families said that they feel that they are shouldering a heavy burden paying for university education.
The union said that it is difficult for parents of private university students to come up with the excessively heavy financial burdens of educational costs. It expressed its determination to urge the government to implement necessary measures such as an increase in state subsidies for private universities and the improvement in scholarship programs in order to reduce financial burdens for families.
Past related articles:
> Debts of freshmen in private universities hit record high [ April 4, 2015]
> Private university students in Tokyo areas living hard lives [April 27, 2011]
