Boost for poor students

[amg]

SHANGHAI'S 577,502 impoverished university students received subsidies totaling 795 million yuan (US$116.5 million) in 2008.

For the past 15 years, no student from the city's universities has dropped out of school because they could not afford to keep studying, the Shanghai Education Commission said yesterday.

Of the total subsidy, 260 million yuan was funded by the city government, an increase of 44.77 percent since 2007. As well 170 million yuan was given by universities, 70 million yuan came from charity, 190 million yuan was in state-subsidized student loans, and the rest came from other sources.