Great article on the financial corruption of local schools

Summary：The cost of a head start: some Beijing families spend half of their income to ease their child's way into the best colleges, beginning with a contribution of up to 250,000 yuan ($39,000) for a place at kindergarten ...

The most exclusive route of entry is “joint co-operation” - with key schools cooperating with public institutions and large enterprises to provide their employees with “quality education” for their offspring. In the practice, such institutions and enterprises provide extra investment for schools by either using company funds or collecting funds from their employees in the name of “joint co-operation”. The schools consider this model to be the most stable source of revenue.

Some training institutions are linked to government education departments. For example, a training class run by Beijing West City District Retired Teachers Association is supervised by the Beijing West City District Education Commission.

Whichever selection method schools use, parents have to pay additional “sponsorship fees” for their children to study at the best schools.

Some parents said that before the school’s admission process starts, they were told about the fees. “They will directly tell you how much to pay and where,” said one parent. Before taking the payment, parents are given a blank piece of paper and asked to copy out a template application letter for “Voluntary Donation to Schools”. The basic content of the letter is that “I would like to make a voluntary contribution”.

These fees are initially deposited into bank accounts nominated by the District Education Commission or into bank account of Education Foundation, which channels 70% -80% of them back to schools.