An ongoing Internet survey, launched by one of China's popular websites, www.sina.com, shows that about 83 percent of netizens think the cost of rearing childen is too high.

The survey, completed by 3,283 netizens by far, quizzes the participants on some newly-released finding by a Nanjing-based University.

When the School of Foreign Language and Literature of Nanjing Normal University started its new semester recently, all the parents who accompanied their children for university registration were asked to fill in a form on the cost of bringing up a child.

The form had several categories, including those about child's education fees, medical treatment fees and daily expenses. The form also asked parents to specify the total cost of bringing up their child over 18 years.

The results showed that most ordinary families spend about 100,000 yuan on their child before he or she reaches university age, while better-off ones can spend 300,000 yuan.

A netizen with the online name of "lieren 002" left the message saying that he expected the cost of bringing up his child to be more than what the survey shows. He has spent 80,000 yuan for his daughter's kindergarten education and will spend 132,000 yuan for her primary and middle school education, another 144,400 yuan for her insurance bills.

"I live in Beijing and expect the education cost alone for my daughter will exceed 350,000 yuan," the netizen said.

Chang Li, an English teacher in one of Beijing's key middle schools, has kept a record of the cost of rearing her two-year-old daughter in an account book.

"From the day when she could climb, I sent her to Gymboree early learning center, which helps her explore her potential through games, music and arts. From her first class till now, I have spent 12,000 yuan," said Chang, explaining her biggest expense by far for her daughter.