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College student Fan Qianning was becoming desperate. Her Beijing-bound train, was about to leave in 30 minutes and her uncle had not arrived with the money he had promised.

The 18-year-old was standing on the platform at Nanning railway station in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and was looking forward to starting her new life as a student of finance at Beijing Jiaotong University.

But her uncle, and the money she needed to pay for her college fees, had not arrived.

"At that time, I had only 1,000 yuan (US$125) in my pocket. My uncle agreed to borrow the money to pay the 5,000-yuan (US$625) tuition for me, but half an hour before the train left, he had not appeared," said Fan. Luckily, her uncle soon appeared with the 5,000 yuan. The generous uncle also offered to give her some money every month in the first year of her studies.

This all happened three years ago. Fan is now 21, and her life changed thanks to a special grant.

But it has been a rocky road.

"Although I could continue my study, the debt my family and my uncle owed was a big burden. From my first college year, I had to spend most of my free time doing a lot of part-time jobs to earn a living," Fan told China Daily.

In her second year, Fan obtained a grant from the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, valued at 3,000 yuan (US$375) per year. Fan obtained the money two years in a row.

"The money not only reduced my family's burden, but also gave me some confidence to face life. I had been chosen to make speeches on how to fight poverty among other college students. Poverty now is not a shame to me any more," Fan recalled.

For the whole year, Fan could freely spend her evenings in libraries without worrying about money. This gave her chances to win other prizes based on her academic marks. With an extremely parsimonious life, she could even help her sister a little.

Fan is one of nearly 4,000 beneficiaries who received grants over the past four years from the Future Project launched by the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, funded by many leading local and international enterprises, which have donated 148 million yuan (US$18.8 million).

According to Li Ning, secretary general of the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, the Future Project has also spent more money on college students in remote areas where financial resources are tighter.

The Future Project offers financial assistance to poor college students with incentives to help the study harder. Many beneficiaries are invited to write a thesis or talk with average college students about ways to fight poverty.

Statistics show 2.94 million college students were afflicted by poverty in 2005. This accounts for 20 per cent of the total student numbers in China.

"The strength of one foundation (in helping poor college students) is far from enough. We will try to create an atmosphere of helping poor college students across society," Li said.

Yang Dongping, an education scholar at Beijing Institute of Technology, said while the government should offer more support, more grass-roots charity groups should be involved in the efforts to help the poor college students.

Meanwhile, the charity groups such as the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, should work with government, banks and donor agencies to make more diversified ways to help the students, Yang said.

"Measures to attract private donation and individual participation of the general public are urgently needed," Yang said.

(China Daily November 6, 2006)