China's 2025 Student Loan Disbursement Up 34% to 127.7 Billion Yuan, Cumulative 695.8 Billion Yuan

As universities enter the peak admission season, admission letters are being mailed out along with materials on student financial aid policies. The higher education stage implements a multi-pronged Chinese student aid system comprising national scholarships, national endeavor scholarships, national grants, academic scholarships, national student loans, education assistance for military service students, tuition compensation for grassroots employment, work-study programs, and the 'green channel' for enrollment. This system is designed to ensure that no student drops out due to financial hardship. In recent years, funding for student aid has grown steadily, with national student loan disbursements reaching RMB 127.7 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 34%.

National student loans have developed a model with 'home-origin as the mainstay and campus-based as a supplement,' with the two approaches complementing each other to ensure 'full assistance for those in need.' As of the end of 2025, cumulative national student loan disbursements amounted to RMB 695.8 billion, benefiting over 30 million students. In recent years, the loan program has actively adapted to students' new needs, continuously improving policy safeguards: loans are credit-based, relying on the borrower's reputation as repayment guarantee, and eligible students with financial difficulties can apply without collateral or guarantees. Loan proceeds can be used not only for tuition and accommodation but also for daily living expenses. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the maximum loan amount has been raised four times, from an initial RMB 6,000 per person per year to RMB 20,000 for undergraduates and RMB 25,000 for postgraduates. During the school period, principal repayment is not required, and interest is fully covered by the government. After graduation, the burden on graduates is alleviated through measures such as lower interest rates, extended repayment periods, grace periods for principal repayment, and improved repayment assistance mechanisms.

To enhance the convenience of processing national student loans and ensure that borrowers can access preferential policies more promptly and fully, relevant institutions have streamlined the loan application process in recent years. Previously, first-time applicants for home-origin credit student loans required both the student and a parent to be present, which was inconvenient for parents working away from home. In 2026, under the guidance of the Ministry of Education, China Development Bank launched a remote loan processing service for co-borrowers, allowing parents to complete signing and authorization on their mobile phones, with the student signing the loan contract on their behalf, achieving 'remote processing for parents, on-site signing for students.' While improving convenience, the bank also pays close attention to business security, using facial recognition, dual identity verification, and other cybersecurity technologies to ensure that online authorizations are tamper-proof and secure.

A doctoral student from the deep mountains of western Hunan, now in the 2025 cohort at the School of Integrated Circuits of Anhui University, said that due to family poverty, he had considered dropping out to take odd jobs several times. However, with the support of various national aid policies, he completed his secondary education without interruption and was successfully admitted to Anhui University in 2017. Over more than a decade, he has received over RMB 180,000 in home-origin credit student loans, various grants, and scholarships, with the comprehensive aid system firmly supporting his academic dreams.

During the summer vacation, fraud targeting scenarios such as student loan processing and the distribution of grants and scholarships is prevalent. Schools are integrating anti-fraud and anti-illegal fundraising education into routine work, collaborating with public security departments and partner banks to establish risk prevention and control mechanisms for collecting, reporting, and jointly handling illegal campus loan leads. High-risk periods such as freshman enrollment and graduate job hunting are closely monitored, and anti-fraud knowledge and correct consumption concepts are promoted alongside the identification of needy students, loan processing, and integrity-themed education. Through campus posters, online quizzes, and short video screenings, warnings about new types of scams such as AI-based fake loans are continuously disseminated. Meanwhile, support channels such as work-study programs, grants, and academic rewards are being improved to guide students toward legitimate on-campus channels to cover their educational expenses.