Studying In Japan

The average amount of financial support students of private universities and junior colleges in the Tokyo metropolitan area received from home as of June 2008 was a record low of 95,700 yen, a recent survey has found.

According to the survey by the Tokyo Federation of Private University Faculty and Staff Unions, students' average monthly financial support from their parents in June 2008 was 95,700 yen, 200 yen lower than the previous fiscal year and the lowest amount recorded since statistics were first kept in fiscal 1985.

The amount received from parents left for living expenses after rent had been subtracted averaged 36,000 yen, 700 yen lower than the previous fiscal year, also the lowest in the survey's history.

The ratio of parents struggling with the burden of education expenses from their children's entrance exams to admission was a record high 91.3 percent, a 0.6 point increase from the previous fiscal year.

However, the survey does not reflect the effects of the global recession that began last autumn. The federation believes that parents' capacity to carry the burden of educational costs has reached its limit and that their financial difficulties will escalate in fiscal 2009.

The survey was conduced from May to June last year among guardians of some 4,800 first-year students at 16 universities and junior colleges in Tokyo and four other prefectures in the Kanto region.

The survey focused on the average allowance sent to the students in June, instead of May -- a month in which many spend large sums on educational materials and costs related to students beginning to live away from home. The average monthly allowance has decreased about 23 percent from its peak of 124,900 yen in fiscal 1994, and the average monthly amount left for living expenses after rent was less than half its fiscal 1990 peak of 73,800 yen.

The average rent paid by students was 59,700 yen, accounting for a record high 62.4 percent of the average monthly allowance.

Meanwhile, the average yearly family income, including tax, was 9.229 million yen -- down by 2.5 percent from fiscal 2007 -- and the average yearly income of a family that has one or more children going to school from places other than their home was 9.159 million yen, down by 4.7 percent from the previous fiscal year.

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