College pays millions in 'stealth subsidies' to poor students

A college in eastern China that uses big data to identify students in financial difficulty says it has paid out millions of yuan in "stealth subsidies" over the past 13 years.

The University of Science and Technology of China introduced a computer system in 2004 that records and analyzes spending in its campus canteens, and began using it to identify struggling students.

At first, the system simply calculated the average amount students spent in a month, but this was not scientific, according to Dong Yu, director of student affairs for the college in Hefei, Anhui province.