You Priced Three Countries. You Didn't Price This One. | 你算了三个国家，唯独没算这个

 

郑州西亚斯国际学院毕业典礼。这笔钱最后换来的，是这一身学位服、一个能写进简历的学位，和四年里认识的人。Photo: Quimbero / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

ENIf you have opened this, you are probably already deep in the arithmetic. You know what a year in the UK costs. You know what a year in the US costs, and you know which direction that number has been moving. You may have a spreadsheet with four columns and a currency tab.

中文如果你点开这篇，说明你大概已经在算账了。英国一年多少、美国一年多少、汇率往哪边走，你心里有数。你的表格里大概已经有四栏，还有一个换算页签。

ENThis piece adds one more row. Not because the others are wrong — they are not — but because a list built on four countries, when there are dozens, is not a shortlist. It is a habit.

中文这篇文章只补一行。不是前面那几栏算错了——它们没错——是因为世界上有几十个目的地，你只看了四个的时候，那不叫清单，那叫习惯。

ENHere is that row, in one line. Four years of undergraduate study in the United States: CNY 2.5 to 3 million. In the UK: CNY 720,000 to 1.47 million. In China: CNY 320,000 to 480,000.

中文先把这一行摆出来。美国读四年本科：250 万到 300 万人民币。英国：72 万到 147 万。中国：32 万到 48 万。

ENThat is not a discount. That is a different order of magnitude. And before you decide what it means — be careful. The number on its own tells you nothing about whether it is worth it. The rest of this piece is about that.

中文这不是打折，这是另一个数量级。但在你决定这意味着什么之前，先别急——光看这个数字，什么都说明不了。值不值，是后面整篇文章的事。

ENChina hosts around 380,000 international students from 191 countries, across roughly 1,100 institutions in 30 provinces. Of those, 205,000 are degree-seeking, and postgraduates are 35% of that group. Engineering is the single largest field, at 27.8% of degree students — ahead of medicine and management.

中文中国目前有约 38 万名国际学生，来自 191 个国家，分布在 30 个省份的 1100 多所院校。其中学历生 20.5 万，研究生占 35%。工学是最大的学科门类，占学历生 27.8%，排在医学和管理学前面。

ENNow the part you should weigh rather than be sold on. By region of origin: Asia 61.1%, Africa 16.2%, Europe 15.6%, the Americas and Oceania combined 7.1%. If you are reading this from Europe, North America or Australia, your child would be in a small minority on campus.

中文接下来这一段，请当成权衡看，不要当成卖点看。按生源地区：亚洲 61.1%，非洲 16.2%，欧洲 15.6%，美洲和大洋洲合计 7.1%。如果你在欧洲、北美或澳洲读到这篇，你的孩子在一所中国校园里会是少数。

ENThat cuts both ways, and both sides are real. Less competition for supervision and attention. A thinner alumni network pointing back to your own country. You will meet far fewer people who can open doors in your home market, and far more who can open doors in a market you have never worked in. Decide which of those two you need more.

中文这件事有两面，而且两面都是真的。老师关注更集中、同类竞争更少；但指向你本国的校友网络更薄。你会遇到的多是能在中国市场给你开门的人，少的是能回你本国给你开门的人。你自己权衡更需要哪一种。

ENSo why is this row not in your spreadsheet already? For most families we speak to, the answer is not a judgement about quality. It is that nobody ever put the numbers in front of them. There is no brochure in the school counsellor's office. No booth at the fair. The information is published, in English, every year — it just does not walk over to you.

中文那为什么这一行不在你表里？我们接触过的大多数家庭，答案不是「觉得中国不行」，而是——没人把数字放到他们面前过。升学顾问的办公室里没有它的册子，教育展上没有它的展位。信息是公开的，每年都有，也有英文版——只是它不会自己走到你面前。

First: three questions before any number

第一，先问三个问题，再谈钱

ENSkip these three and everything downstream is noise. It is the same as buying a flat: if you will not state a budget, an agent who shows you villas is not being helpful, he is wasting your afternoon. Study abroad is a four-year cash flow. The number that decides where you can go is the annual one, not the total.

中文这三问不答，后面全是废话。跟买房一个道理：你不说预算，中介带你去看别墅，那不叫服务，那叫浪费你一个下午。留学是四年的现金流，决定你能去哪儿的是「每年」那个数，不是「一共」那个数。

Second: what a ranking can and cannot tell you

第二，排名能告诉你什么，不能告诉你什么

ENRankings are built for universities, not for families. QS weights academic reputation at 30% — that is a survey of tens of thousands of academics, who score on papers, labs and peer prestige. When your child sits in an interview, which recruiter opens a ranking table to compare number 137 against number 152? None. They ask what you can do, and how long until you are useful.

中文排名是给学校用的，不是给家庭用的。QS 的学术声誉权重占 30%，那是发问卷给几万个学者，他们打分看的是论文、实验室、同行名气。你孩子去面试的时候，哪个招聘官会打开排名表去比第 137 名和第 152 名？没有。人家问的是你会干什么，多久能上手。

ENThis is not an argument that rankings are worthless. They have concrete uses: some employers' campus shortlists, some immigration and residency scoring systems, some scholarship eligibility rules. Use them as a tool. But notice that the market is already moving — QS's own survey shows the share of students weighing employability rising from 36% to 44% between 2020 and 2026, and 59% now weigh it when judging teaching quality. The habit of ranking-first is being dropped fastest by the families who chased it hardest.

中文这不是说排名一文不值。它有具体用途：部分雇主的校招名单、部分国家的居留与人才打分、部分奖学金的资格条件。当工具用。但你要注意到市场已经在动——QS 自己的调研显示，2020 到 2026 年，把就业率当重要考量的学生占比从 36% 涨到 44%；评估教学质量时看就业率的有 59%。追排名追得最凶的那批家庭，放弃得也最快。

ENWhat transfers instead is the subject. Engineering is 27.8% of degree-seeking international students in China, ahead of medicine and management. That is not a marketing achievement. That is global industry demand voting with its feet, and it is the most useful signal in this article.

中文真正能带走的是专业。工学占在华学历国际学生的 27.8%，排在医学和管理学前面。这不是招生宣传的成绩，这是全球产业需求在用脚投票——也是这篇文章里最有用的一个信号。

Third: what the same money buys, in different places

第三，同样一笔钱，在不同地方能买到什么

ENHere is the table to put next to your own. Left column: your annual budget in RMB. Middle: what that buys in China. Right: what the same money buys in the markets you have probably already priced.

中文这张表，建议放在你自己那张表旁边。左列是你的年度预算（人民币），中间是这笔钱在中国能买到什么，右列是同一笔钱在那些你大概已经算过的市场能买到什么。

分档方法参照青春新航道《4 档预算》一文的分层逻辑。中国一栏数据来自院校招生简章与 2025–2026 学年行业费用测算；学费非全国统一定价，各校自行公布，区间仅作量级参考。

ENTwo things to notice. First, the cheapest tier is not a degraded tier — it is a real degree from a real university, and in the 8–12万 band you are already looking at a 211 in a provincial capital. Second, look at the last row: at zero, China is the only destination on this list where a fully funded route exists at scale, covering tuition, housing, a monthly stipend and insurance.

中文两处要看清楚。第一，最便宜那一档不是「降级档」——那是真大学真学位，8–12 万那一档你已经站在省会城市的 211 里了。第二，看最后一行：在「零」这个位置上，中国是这份名单里唯一一个大规模存在全奖通道的目的地，而且覆盖学费、住宿、每月生活费、保险。

 

郑州西亚斯国际学院图书馆自习区。这笔钱买到的不只是学费豁免，是一个能坐下来读四年书的地方。 
Photo: Gary Todd / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1.0

The tuition schedule, by field and by language of instruction

学费明细：按专业，也按授课语言

各校自定学费标准，此处为 2025–2026 学年区间。英文授课普遍比中文授课贵 20%–40%，这是为「不用学中文」付的溢价。

ENOne real case beats a range. Kunming Medical University publishes its 2026 international schedule openly: Chinese-taught bachelor CNY 24,000, English-taught MBBS CNY 35,000, master CNY 40,000, PhD CNY 45,000. Dormitory CNY 1,200–2,400 a year, insurance CNY 800, medical check CNY 500, residence permit CNY 400. Add it up and a Chinese-taught undergraduate sits near CNY 40,000 a year before food.

中文与其看区间，不如看一个真实案例。昆明医科大学 2026 年国际学生招生简章是公开的：中文授课本科 2.4 万，英文授课 MBBS 3.5 万，硕士 4 万，博士 4.5 万。住宿 1200–2400 元/年，保险 800，体检 500，居留许可 400。全部加起来，一个中文授课本科生在吃饭之前大概是 4 万一年。

校内宿舍和食堂是压成本的两个最大变量。住校内、吃食堂，多数城市可以把月支出压在 2000 元以内。住校外，账立刻变形。

 

中国科学技术大学（合肥）东校区食堂。食堂一顿 10–20 元——这是生活费能被压到 2000 元/月的主因。 
Photo: Minbaili / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

ENPut the two together. A self-funded year in China lands at CNY 50,000 to 120,000 — roughly USD 7,000 to 17,000 — depending on the city, the field and the language of instruction. At the bottom of that range — a provincial institution, Chinese-taught tuition, a dorm room, canteen meals — a full year runs on about CNY 30,000.

中文两项加在一起：自费在华一年落在 5 万到 12 万人民币之间，取决于城市、专业和授课语言。区间下沿——省属院校、中文授课、住校内、吃食堂——一年 3 万也能跑下来。

 

主要目的国（地区）年度总费用区间对比（人民币，万元/年）。中国一栏取 5–12 万，是全球最便宜档位之一，同时是这份名单里经济体量最大的目的地。区间截取自 2025–2026 学年机构测算，各国按本币换算，汇率波动会影响实际支出。Annual total cost ranges by destination, in RMB ten-thousands. Data figure, not a photo. 

Fourth: the scholarship that changes the arithmetic

第四，那个改写账本的奖学金

ENThis is the section almost nobody outside China reads, and it is worth more than everything above. The Chinese Government Scholarship, in full, covers: tuition, accommodation (or a housing allowance), a monthly stipend, and comprehensive medical insurance at CNY 800 a year.

中文这一节，中国境外几乎没人认真读过，但它比上面所有内容都值钱。中国政府奖学金全额，覆盖：学费、住宿（或住宿补贴）、每月生活费、以及 800 元一年的综合医疗保险。

资助标准见中国驻各国使领馆当年发布的《中国政府奖学金申请须知》。受理渠道通常为本国留学生派遣部门或中国使领馆，各国截止时间不同，多在 1–4 月。

ENDo the arithmetic on one undergraduate. Tuition CNY 25,000. Dormitory CNY 6,000. Stipend CNY 2,500 × 12 = CNY 30,000. Insurance CNY 800. That is a package worth roughly CNY 62,000 a year — about CNY 250,000 across four years that you do not pay.

中文拿一个本科生算。学费 2.5 万，住宿 6000，生活费 2500 × 12 = 3 万，保险 800。一年是 6.2 万左右的一个资助包，四年下来差不多 25 万，你不用掏。

ENCompare the odds. For an international undergraduate in the United States, a full ride is rare enough that most counsellors will not promise it — many schools are need-aware, so asking for aid affects admission. In the UK, full scholarships at undergraduate level for international students are close to non-existent. Here it is a published, annual, government-funded programme with embassies as the intake channel.

中文再对比概率。美国本科国际生拿全奖，稀缺到绝大多数顾问不敢承诺——很多学校是 need-aware，你要钱就影响录取。英国本科阶段面向国际生的全奖，基本等于没有。而这边是一个公开的、每年都有的、政府出钱的、以大使馆为受理渠道的项目。

ENAnd now the number that keeps this honest. Government scholarship students are roughly 8% of international students in China — which means about 92% pay their own way. Read that the right way round: self-funding is the normal path here, not the last resort. The scholarship is a bonus, not the premise.

中文再说一个让这件事保持诚实的数字：政府奖学金生约占在华国际学生的 8%。也就是说约 92% 是自费的。这个数字要正着读——自费在这里是常态，不是退路。奖学金是加分项，不是前提。

Fifth: cheap is not a reason

第五，便宜不是理由

ENI have never told anyone to pick a place because it is cheap. Cheap is an entry ticket, not an argument. If you spend CNY 80,000 and someone else spends CNY 600,000, and on graduation day the two students have the same ability and the same options, the CNY 80,000 was the smart money. But if it bought an unknown university, a language they cannot speak and a certificate nobody uses, then you did not save — you spent four years and lost the interest.

中文我从来不劝人因为便宜选一个地方。便宜是入场券，不是理由。你花 8 万，别人花 60 万，毕业那天两个孩子能力一样、去处一样，那 8 万是聪明的钱。但如果这 8 万买来的是一个没人知道的学校、一门不会说的语言、一张用不上的文凭，那你不是省了，你是花了四年还赔了利息。

ENSo the calculation has to run past graduation. Three real paths, and they are not equally open.

中文所以这笔账必须算到毕业以后。三条真实路径，敞开程度并不一样。

· Work in China
The routes exist and the thresholds are real: Z visa plus work permit, the outstanding-graduate policy, free-trade-zone facilitation pilots, and the K visa introduced in 2025 — which is not itself a work permit. Conditions change yearly; check the current official notices.留华就业　通道是有的，门槛也是真的。Z 字签证 + 工作许可、优秀外籍高校毕业生政策、部分自贸区的便利化试点、以及 2025 年新增的 K 字签证（青年科技人才，但持 K 签不能直接全职工作）。具体条件逐年调整，必须以当年官方公告为准。

· Work back home, or for a Chinese company there
76 Chinese firms rank among the world's top international contractors, with USD 127.3 billion in overseas revenue in 2024. The chairman of CRRC put it plainly: localised talent that understands local rules is the key to overseas operations. Chinese fluency, four years on the ground, plus fluency in your own home market — that combination is scarce.回国就业，或进入你所在国的中资企业　76 家中国企业上榜全球顶级国际承包商，2024 年国际营业额 1,273.2 亿美元。中国中车董事长孙永才的原话是「通晓属地规则的本土化人才是海外经营关键」。会中文、在中国待过四年、懂中国的规则，同时懂你自己的市场——这个组合稀缺。

· Progress to a third country
Chinese degrees are better recognised across the Commonwealth system than most people assume — but it varies sharply by institution and by programme. Verify each destination university's postgraduate entry requirements yourself.第三国升学　中国学位在英联邦体系内的认可度比很多人想的高，但具体到学校、具体到专业，差异很大。必须逐校核对对方的研究生入学要求，不要听中介一句话就信。

ENNote what is and is not being claimed. This is not a promise of a job. It is a statement about scarcity: Chinese fluency, four years on the ground, plus fluency in your own home market — very few people hold all three. Your salary is proportional to how hard you are to replace. That has not changed anywhere.

中文注意我在说什么，也在说什么。这不是就业承诺，这是一个关于稀缺性的判断：中文能力、四年在地经验、加你自己母国市场——这三样同时具备的人很少。你的工资永远和你的不可替代性成正比，这条在哪儿都一样。

Sixth: three places this goes wrong

第六，三个最容易出错的地方

· 1. Price the tuition, ignore the city
Beijing and Shanghai run CNY 3,500–5,500 a month; Xi'an runs CNY 2,000–2,500. On the same CNY 20,000 tuition, the annual living cost gap alone can reach CNY 20,000–36,000. Pick the wrong city and every yuan you saved on tuition goes straight back out.只算学费，不算城市　北京上海 3,500–5,500 元/月，西安 2,000–2,500 元/月。同样是 2 万元的学费，一年的生活成本能差出 2 万到 3.6 万。城市选错，学费省的那点钱全填进去。

· 2. Pay more to avoid learning Chinese
English-taught programmes cost 20–40% more than Chinese-taught ones. You pay a premium for the comfort of not learning Chinese, and graduate without the language and without real exposure to the Chinese market. That is the most expensive way to save money.为了「不用学中文」选英文授课　英文授课比中文授课贵 20%–40%。你多花了钱，买了一个「不用学中文」的舒适区，结果毕业时既没学会中文，也没真正进过中国市场。这是最贵的一种省钱。

· 3. The extra preparatory year
Fall short on HSK and you spend a year in language preparation first. That year is pure cost — it counts toward neither the degree nor the programme length, and plenty of students finish it still short. Start the language now, or budget the year in.语言预科多出来的一年　HSK 不到线就要先读一年汉语预科。这一年是纯成本：不算学位、不算学制，而且不少人读完还是不够。要么现在就开始学，要么把这个成本先算进总账。

Seventh: the ten-year question

第七，十年之后那个问题

ENI will ask this once. In ten years, when your child is in a hiring conversation, what makes them hard to replace? If the answer is "I have a foreign degree" — that is worth nothing; millions are issued every year. If the answer is "I speak Chinese, I spent four years there, I understand how that market and its rules and its people actually work, and I can still go back to my own market" — very few people on earth hold that.

中文这个问题我只问一次。十年以后，你孩子坐在面试桌前，靠什么让自己不可替代？如果答案是「我有一个外国学位」——不值钱，全世界一年发几百万个。如果答案是「我会中文，我在那儿待了四年，我懂那个市场、它的规则、它的人怎么打交道，同时我还能回我自己的市场」——这个东西，全世界没几个人有。

Eighth: five things to do this month

第八，这个月就能做的五件事

· 1. Budget per year, not in total
Study abroad is a four-year cash flow. The amount you can commit every year is the number that actually decides where you can go — a one-off lump sum is not.把预算算成「每年」，不是「一共」　留学是四年或更久的现金流。每年稳定能拿出多少，才是真正决定你能去哪儿的数字。

· 2. Start Chinese now, not after admission
Every HSK level you climb changes what you can study and what you pay. Language is the one investment where starting earlier is always the better trade.中文现在就开始，别等录取　HSK 每高一级，你能选的专业和能省的钱都不一样。语言是唯一一个「早开始一定划算」的投入。

· 3. Find your country's scholarship channel
The intake body and deadline differ by country, usually falling between January and April. Miss it and there is no late round.查清你所在国家的奖学金受理渠道　中国政府奖学金的受理机构与截止时间各国不同，通常在 1 月到 4 月之间。错过就是错过，没有补录。

· 4. Bachelor applicants: register for CSCA now
From 2026/27, undergraduate scholarship applications require a CSCA score. Mathematics and Major Chinese are compulsory; score submission closes around May.本科申请人：CSCA 现在报名　2026/27 学年起，奖学金本科申请必须提交 CSCA 成绩。数学和专业中文必考，成绩提交约在 5 月底截止。

· 5. Write down where you intend to be after graduating
Write it on paper, then work backwards to the university, the field and the city. If you cannot write it, you are not ready to spend the money yet.先把「毕业后在哪儿」写下来　写在纸上，倒推选校、选专业、选城市。写不出来，说明还没到交钱的时候。

ENOne last thing, and then it is your decision. You do not owe China a look. If the four countries you have already priced fit your budget, your language situation and your child's plans, that is a complete answer — and you should stop reading here.

中文最后一句，然后就是你的决定。你不欠中国一个考虑。如果你已经算过的那四个国家，符合你家的预算、语言条件和孩子的规划，那就是一个完整的答案——你可以关掉这篇文章了。

ENBut if you have read this far, something in the numbers made you pause. So do the one thing that costs nothing: put the row in. Price a year in China the same way you priced a year in Melbourne or Manchester — same inputs, tuition, rent, food, flights, insurance. Then compare the outputs, including the one that matters most: what your child can do in ten years that a cheaper or a more expensive graduate cannot.

中文但如果你读到了这里，说明这些数字里有东西让你停了一下。那就做一件零成本的事：把这一行加进去。用你算墨尔本或曼彻斯特的同一套方法，算一遍在中国的一年——学费、房租、吃饭、机票、保险，同样的输入。然后比结果，包括最重要的那一个：十年之后，你的孩子能做什么，是别的毕业生做不到的。

ENNot knowing and deciding against are two different things. Most families in your position believe they have done the second. Most of them have done the first.

中文「不知道」和「不考虑」，是两件不同的事。和你处境相同的大多数家庭，以为自己做了第二件。其实他们做的是第一件。