Students' dignity protected with big data meal 'subsidy'

Recently, many students from China University of Mining and Technology received a text message and an extra 200 yuan ($29) on their meal card. Most thought it was a scam message at first: "We recently found that you have a low consumption with your campus cards in the cafeteria, so we've transferred 200 yuan to your campus card and hope it helps you..."

It turned out to be a misunderstanding. Via the big data of campus card consumption, the school chose to subsidize financially imperiled students implicitly, a move widely praised by teachers and students, youth.cn reported.

"(I suddenly found) there is more money on my campus card. I feel really grateful to the school. This kind of funding is so heart-warming,"a student from the School of Computer Science remarked — though when he received this warm message from a strange number, he was confused.

He said the 200 yuan gift was too unexpected, and suspected it was a fraudulent message. Only after checking the balance on his campus card and consulting the Student Financial Assistance Management Center was he finally convinced.

The staff from the center said this is an "implicit subsidy" project carried out by the school, relying on big data. According to specific conditions of student consumption, the school determines the final subsidy list and then transfers 120 to 200 yuan to each of these students as their extra meal money.

"Protecting the privacy of students with financial difficulties is an important aspect of student financial assistance. The school hopes students can be assisted with dignity and warmth." The staff stressed that no individual information was disclosed during the funding process. Only peer-to-peer messages are sent to subsidized students as a reminder. After receiving the message, a lot of students express their appreciation to the school in their reply.

Li, a female school staff member responsible for the funding work, said this is only one aspect of the school's funding project through big data, and the school will continue to update campus card big data for other funding mechanisms in the future.

According to the report, China University of Mining and Technology has always attached great importance to student funding, focused on innovative work concepts, improved the funding system and actively implemented accurate funding with the help of big data platforms.

Each year, the school also provides 800 "love cards" worth 100 yuan for students, with which they will receive life necessities and learning materials. The campus also prepares "love tickets" to help financially strapped students back home and "love packages" with winter clothes to help them stay warm in the cold season.