作者：张静
　　【Abstract】The paper tells about who takes the responsibility of paying college in China and US. It explores both American and Chinese undergraduate families’ attitudes towards the responsibility of paying for college. And it explore the cultural differences manifested in the way people pay for college. Then some opinions and implications are offered.
　　【Key words】paying college costs； attitude； cultural difference
　　【作者簡介】张静，上海思博职业技术学院。
　　During my visit at California State University Fullerton， I have learned that less than 30% undergraduates in this university can graduate within 4 years. Most of students usually take 6 or 7 years to graduate. I felt curious about that. What caused the delay of their graduation？ The answer is they need do part time job to pay for their college. That is why they need more time to graduate. Do American parents pay for their children college？ This aroused my interest in this topic. So I conducted a survey about it. And my research question is： who is responsible for paying college costs， parents or children？ I interviewed some American parents and college students for this survey. Next I’ll tell about the findings of my survey.
　　1.Who takes the responsibility of paying for college education？
　　For many Chinese families， especially those relatively well-off， the idea of who will pay for college is a given： It is the parents’ responsibility. But in America， things are different. According to a national study by Sallie Mae （ it is the nation’s saving， planning and paying for college company）， three in five families believe that paying for college is a shared responsibility between the parents and student. Now let’s look at a chart.
　　From the chart， we can see 45% of the college students have to pay college by themselves in America. 55% students get their parents’ help to pay for college. That is，， most American parents and children share responsibility for paying college costs.
　　2.American undergraduate families’ attitudes towards the responsibility of paying for college
　　American parents’ attitude： According to my interviews with some American parents， some said that they can afford their children’s college education and they want their children to concentrate on their studies. So they would like to pay for their children’s college in full. While some other parents said although they can afford their children’s college， they want to teach their kids the responsibility of paying for part of their education. They think if their children do not make contribution to their college costs， they can not truly understand the value of education and money. So these parents would share the responsibility of paying for college with their kids. In fact， most parents hold the belief that their children should share the responsibility of paying for college with them.