Podcast: Story in the Story (9/23/2019 Mon.)
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From the People's Daily app.

And this is Story in the Story.

A Chinese financial advice platform found that college students in 15 cities spent over $200 a month on average, topped by Beijing at $335, Shanghai at $320, and Hangzhou at $315.

For middle and lower-income college students, demand for disposable cash has left them frustrated. And those who become desperate are more susceptible to loan scams.

Meanwhile, some students are also willing to commit small crimes so they can have extra money for material goods or to enjoy life with their friends.

"College students, as young people, are open to new things like online loan platforms," said Zhou Hao, a Beijing lawyer.

"Their open minds also mean they want to seek a fashionable lifestyle, as they are no longer under the control of their parents," Zhou added.

Today’s Story in the Story looks at how some college students are demanding more money to enjoy life while away from home, and how others are willing to do just about anything to get it.  

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New students arrive at Zhejiang University on Aug 16, accompanied by their parents.(Photo: China Daily)

An online post about a female university student who wanted $630 for her monthly living expenses ignited public debate on how much disposable income a student needs for college life. 

According to the post, the student said her school is in a new top-tier city and complained her mother gave her too little, only $320, as she had to eat in the school canteen through the end of the month.

The student explained her expenses included skincare products and new clothes, and that her roommates used good products too, but her mother refused to give her the $630.

She said spending on after-school classes exceeded $560 a month during high school, and her mother gave it without the least hesitation, while now her tuition and accommodation fees were just over $4,000 a year in college.

Some internet users shared their living expenses, and except for a few outliers, most ranged from $140 to $280 a month. Some questioned whether the female student could even earn $600 a month after graduation.

According to a survey from Chengdu-based Red Star News, students from colleges in the city, such as Sichuan University, Chengdu University and Sichuan Conservatory of Music, had expenses ranging from $200 to $300.

"Students want to enjoy a high-quality lifestyle, so they may need money to buy devices or take extra courses," said Song Yongjun, head of Xiongdi Hezhong Technology, a company that promotes online lending apps to college students.

However, while some students have used credit with no problems, others have fallen into massive debt that can lead to tragedies.

A student at Henan Agricultural University committed suicide after accumulating $90,000 in debt that he borrowed from 14 lending platforms using 28 identification cards he had stolen from his classmates.

"It's quite easy, you only need to make an IOU," said a freshman at Baoding University.

In Zilonghu, a college town in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, the town's billboards, windows, gates, and even toilets are full of ads for online lenders.

Qiu, a junior student from the Shandong University of Technology, said that lending apps are easy to find as ads have been posted everywhere on his campus since last year.

"Some people who promote lending platforms will ask you to scan a QR code, and then they will give you a bottle of soft drink in return," Qiu said.

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Pedestrians walk past ads for an online lending app in the Shanghai subway in January 2016. (Photo: IC)

The loan limits vary from site to site. Chuying Loan sets limits according to borrowers' level of education - from $700 for students at adult education institutes to $1,000 at top universities.

"The platforms offer many part-time sales jobs on campuses, and it helps to realize the dreams of students," Song said.

"Some students use the identities of their classmates to borrow money, which is illegal," Zhou said.

Almost 100 students in Laiwu, East China's Shandong Province had their identities stolen, which were used to borrow money from Qufenqi.

"Lenders sometimes set a higher interest rate than the legal standard of 24 percent a year, and they use illegal methods to collect debts, such as threatening students, their families, and teachers," Zhou explained.

Over 1,000 members of a QQ group called "Anti-Jiexin" including students, claimed they and their families have been tormented by endless debt-collection texts and phone calls from Jiexin, a lending company.

Some people in the QQ group posted pictures of what they claimed were fake legal notices concocted by Jiexin's debt collectors to threaten them.

"From the point of view of lenders, they see not only the needs of the students, but also their stability, high-quality and naivete, which means they will not simply run away from debts," Zhou said.

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Lance Crayon, Brian Lowe, and Paris Yelu Xu. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Global Times and China Daily.)