The 2 concrete benefits for college students who enlist: tuition covered at up to 20000 yuan a year, student status kept until 2 years after discharge, and a dedicated postgraduate plan

Current students, graduating students, and newly admitted students who enlist have the tuition for their years in school paid by the state. For junior-college and undergraduate students the cap is 20000 yuan a year, and for graduate students 25000 yuan a year. If the tuition was already lower, only the amount actually paid is covered. Student status is kept during service, and you can return to school within 2 years after discharge. Postgraduate admissions have a separate plan that recruits only discharged college-student soldiers.

Cost

No money. After discharge, submit the materials the school asks for. It takes 1 or 2 trips.

Benefit

A 2024 notice from 4 departments, including the Ministry of Finance, says college students who serve get 3 benefits: tuition compensation, state repayment of the national student loan used for tuition, and a tuition waiver. Repayment means the state pays off that student loan for you. The standard "is adjusted accordingly to no more than 20000 yuan per person per year for junior-college and undergraduate students, and no more than 25000 yuan per person per year for graduate students." The new standard applies from the autumn semester of 2024. How much is paid follows this sentence: "Apply the higher of the tuition the student actually paid and the national student loan obtained (including the principal and all interest accrued before it is fully repaid)." The next sentence is: "The part above the standard is not compensated, repaid, or waived." So the money each year is the higher of the actual tuition and the student loan, then the lower of that amount and the cap. Tuition of 5000 yuan a year is compensated at 5000 yuan. The number of years follows the years of study, not the years of service. The 2019 measures on student financial aid funds say: "Where the prescribed length of study was already completed before enlistment, that length is the period of tuition compensation or of state repayment of the national student loan; where the remaining prescribed length is completed after returning to school following discharge, that length is the period of the tuition waiver." A graduating student who enlists is compensated for the tuition of the whole program. Student status is in the Law on the Protection of Veterans. It says: "Where a service member was already admitted to an ordinary higher-education institution before enlistment, or is a student already studying at an ordinary higher-education institution, the admission qualification or student status is kept during active service. Within 2 years after discharge, enrollment or return to school is allowed, and the student may transfer to another major at the same school under the relevant state rules." The law also says: "Higher-education institutions may, under the state's overall arrangement, recruit veterans through separately listed plans, separate admissions, and similar methods." Postgraduate study is in a 2026 notice from the General Office of the Ministry of Education. The plan is called «退役大学生士兵计划» (the plan for discharged college-student soldiers). The notice says: "It is issued separately within the total national master's enrollment plan and is used only for this purpose. It may not be shifted to the regular plan or to another special plan. Admitting institutions set... the preliminary-exam score requirement themselves (generally not higher than the preliminary-exam score requirement for regular-plan candidates in the same discipline at that institution)... Under otherwise equal conditions, candidates who served longer are admitted first." Separately listed and reserved means these places are set aside and can be used only to recruit discharged college-student soldiers. In 2026, 532 ordinary higher-education institutions carry this plan (nationwide).

Notes

There are 2 more channels. The first is an associate-to-bachelor path with the academic subjects waived: a junior-college student who enlists, finishes the junior-college program after discharge, may apply for an exam-exempt associate-to-bachelor admission. The school tests vocational skills and then admits the stronger candidates. This applies from the 2022 admissions. The specific method is in that year's provincial notice. The second is 10 extra points on the postgraduate preliminary exam: a discharged college-student soldier who takes the postgraduate exam within 3 years after discharge has 10 points added to the preliminary-exam total. If you apply under the special plan, the points are not added. They cannot be used together. Someone who has received a second-class merit or higher may apply to enter a master's program without the preliminary exam. The list of schools carrying the special plan changes every year. In 2025 it was 523. The tuition standard has been adjusted twice: in 2019 it was 8000/12000, in autumn 2023 it became 16000/20000, and in autumn 2024 it became 20000/25000. The 2022 summary on the Ministry of Veterans Affairs site still has the earliest version. Do not copy it.

Sources · 6

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