Local colleges and universities are busy helping freshmen from earthquake-hit Sichuan Province.

Some colleges plan to offer them long-term cash subsidies, exempt students from tuition fees and even send staff and students to meet them, according to the Shanghai Education Commission on Tuesday.

The Shanghai Second Polytechnic University, which plans to enroll 20 to 30 students from the quake-affected areas, will send 12 Sichuan natives to pick up the freshmen. The university will pay all transport costs from their home towns to Shanghai, and has prepared a welcome gift bag for each student.

"The special aid scheme was designed to free students whose family suffered economic losses in the devastating earthquake from financial worries," said Jing Xiaofeng, the university's student affairs division director.

At the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Sichuan-native students are expected to be given a monthly subsidy of 400 yuan (US$57) in the new semester.

(Shanghai Daily July 23, 2008)