How much money does a student need per month?

Editor's Note: A first-year undergraduate student in Chengdu, Sichuan province, recently complained online that her mother refused to raise her monthly allowance to 4,500 yuan ($633) even when she said her current allowance 2,000 yuan was not enough to cover her expenses, sparking a debate on how much money a college student needs per month. Two experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:

Students should pursue education, not comfort

Even for a college student studying in a first-tier city in China, 2,000 yuan is enough to cover all his or her monthly expenses. In fact, for a college student in Chengdu a monthly allowance of 2,000 yuan is more than enough. According to a survey conducted by a bookkeeping platform, the average monthly expense for an undergraduate in cities other than Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou was less than 2,000 yuan in 2019; for Chengdu, it was 1,900 yuan.