Chinese universities and colleges have been required to prepare special New Year's Eve dinners for needy students who remain on campus during the Spring Festival vacation, according a notice recently issued by the Ministry of Education.

The notice asked universities and colleges to organize students who stay on campus to have dinner together, watch TV shows or hold a party on the eve of the Spring Festival, hoping to ensure that their holidays should be as happy as they would be if spent at home.

The forthcoming Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 9, is China's traditional lunar New Year and an occasion of family reunions. But some needy students cannot afford traveling expenses and some stay on campus to work part-time jobs to accumulate experience or earn tuition fees for the next term.

The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China has recently collected 10 million yuan (1.2 million US dollars) to subsidize these needy students. It also required its local branches at various levels to raise another 20 million yuan (2.4 million US dollars) for their living expenses during the Spring Festival.

Statistics show that 2.4 million college students, about 20 percent of the total enrollment, are facing financial difficulties. Experts attribute it to low incomes of Chinese residents, a high proportion of students from poor rural areas and the increasing tuition fees.

The Chinese government has shown great concern for poor college students and worked out a series of policies to help them. Needy students can get scholarships, student loans, remission of tuition fees and part-time jobs to offset expenses.