JIANGSU UNIVERSITY in Zhenjiang, East China's Jiangsu province, recently disqualified 21 students from receiving subsides intended for impoverished students based on their monthly mobile phone payments. Beijing News commented on Monday:

Unlike Nanjing University of Science and Technology that used students' monthly consumption in the university canteen to distinguish those who needed financial support, what Jiangsu University did is slightly more controversial because phone fees say little about a student's financial situation.

Of course, screening students from poor families by collecting information about their daily consumption may be less likely to embarrass them, as happened in the past when applications for financial support were often disclosed for public scrutiny.