Three government ministries have jointly issued a notice requiring universities and colleges to allocate 10 percent of collected tuition to help poor students, the Beijing News reported.

The notice, issued by the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, required colleges and universities to use the fund to ensure poor students have the money to stay in school.

Universities are prohibited from charging fees not authorized by the state organs, such as registration fees or education sponsorship fees, the notice said. School heads who violate the rule face punishment, said the Beijing News.

The notice said students should be allowed to buy the bedding and daily necessities in dormitories, instead of being uniformly assigned and charged by the schools. The schools should specify for which items and how much students are being charged in their enrollment notice. They must post the application of collected funds and start a hotline for complaints.

The schools are also not allowed to charge higher fees for certain popular majors or penalize students if they fail to go to work at places they contract for upon graduation.

Local governments are also ordered not to use fund collected by the schools to balance fiscal budget or for any other means, the notice said.