As a public goods provision, government-funded scholarships should be made available for students at private universities, says an article in Shandong-based Dazhong Daily. An excerpt follows:

　　It is reported that the central government will spend 1 billion yuan (US$123.3 million) annually on national scholarships to help poor college students. The programme will benefit about 600,000 students.

　　According to the programme however, only students from public-funded colleges are eligible to apply for the financial subsidy.

　　The national scholarship is a public goods provision, and therefore it should be available for all financially disadvantaged students regardless of whether they are studying at public schools or private ones.

　　Nowadays, governments around the world are transferring increasing amounts of public goods provisions to non-governmental organizations (NGO) or enterprises in order to be more efficient in their social management.

　　Private universities, which rely on social and private resources, are government-permitted public goods providers, offering higher education services to the public.

　　Nowadays there are millions of students in these private colleges, contributing significantly to the country's higher education undertakings.

　　As citizens of the country, poor students, whether they are at public universities or private ones, should be equally eligible for the scholarships, which are intended to assist students with financial hardships.

　　From this viewpoint, it is therefore unfair to deny students of private colleges access to these public-funded scholarships.

　　Such a policy discriminates against private colleges since it will likely discourage people from attending, causing them to scramble for places at public colleges.

　　At a time when public universities are already overcrowded, and private colleges are just starting to grow and are in need of government support, such biased policies will only do the higher education cause a disservice.