Education Services in China

China provides public schooling for 9 years that is free and required for Chinese children between the ages of 6 and 15 years old. They can also go to a kindergarten between the ages of 2 and 6, and they can continue on to four years of high school or vocational school from 15 years old. Higher education was offered free in China until the year 1985, when this was ended, although there are college scholarships available for some Chinese high school students.

 

Although public school is free for Chinese children, parents still have to pay for things such as text books. Foreign students do have to pay a small tuition to attend Chinese public school, although the classes are taught in the Mandarin language. There are also quite a few international private schools in China that are only for children of expats, and these are becoming more expensive.

 

The cost of private education in China can be as high as 25 thousand American dollars a year. There are more than 2000 colleges and universities in China, but these are often relatively cheap compared to the United States, typically having tuition of around only 3000 American dollars for an undergraduate year.