Universities offer free lodging

SHANGHAI: Universities are offering special services including free accommodation to cash-strapped parents who accompany new students enrolling for their first semester.

Tongji University, one of the biggest comprehensive universities in Shanghai, has temporarily turned the second floor of its gym studio on the main campus into a makeshift dormitory, with more than 400 beds.

In previous years when such services were not available, some parents from poverty-stricken families were forced to sleep outdoors in the campus squares and gardens.