With the end of the college entrance examination in 2024, the work of filling in college entrance examination volunteers has also begun. Recently, the news that an online celebrity organization "harvested" 200 million yuan in three hours hit the hot search, making the college entrance examination volunteer filling service industry more concerned. However, according to the investigation by the reporter of Rule of Law Network, at present, the market institutions of the college entrance examination volunteer filling service are jumbled, the standards are different, the employees are mixed, false propaganda, poor service quality and other complaints are frequent.
The market for filling in college entrance examination volunteers is booming
"After the Spring Festival, many students and parents who took part in the 2024 college entrance examination came to me to ask me about filling in the college entrance examination volunteers. After the college entrance examination ended on June 9, the number of people increased," said Mr. Qi (not his real name) from Hebei.
Since he has to stare at his mobile phone and computer for a long time to inquire about relevant information and receive relevant information, Mr. Qi can only sleep for a few hours every day recently, which will last at least more than a month. "Before the results come out, we should help students to pre lock the schools and majors according to the estimated scores. After the results come out, we should continue to adjust them. We will not be finished until the students receive the admission notice again and again."
According to the industry, Mr. Qi is a volunteer planner for the college entrance examination, or the instructor for the college entrance examination. At first, I only filled in college entrance examination volunteers for some local students. Later, I began to cooperate with some institutions, and more and more students from other places. Mr. Qi said that about twenty or thirty students need to be served every year, and the fees for each student vary from four or five thousand to tens of thousands. The prices vary according to different situations and needs. But "in a summer, it is no problem to earn two or three hundred thousand yuan."
In fact, there are still many people and institutions like Mr. Qi who are engaged in the college entrance examination volunteer filling service all over the country. In recent years, the market for college entrance examination volunteer filling service has also witnessed rapid development. According to the Big Data Analysis Report on China's College Entrance Examination Volunteer Filling and Employment Prospects in 2023 released by Ai Media Consulting, the market for China's college entrance examination volunteer filling and reporting will pay 880 million yuan in 2022 and 950 million yuan in 2023.
Recently, an online celebrity organization launched a service product for filling in college entrance examination volunteers, which was said to have been snapped up three hours after its launch, and instantly captured 200 million yuan, which shows the popularity of the current market.
Most institutions promise 100% admission
According to the survey by the reporter of Rule.cn, there are many volunteer filling service agencies for college entrance examination in the market, both large and small, both online and offline, and the service forms can be divided into many to one, one to one and one to many. In addition, other institutions use video courses as their main selling points.
According to different conditions and needs, the charging standards vary from thousands to tens of thousands, but almost all institutions claim a success rate of 100%. As for whether the students are satisfied with the school they are enrolled in, and whether there will be high scores and low reports, the staff of many institutions said that the filling plan will be determined after consulting with the college entrance examination volunteer planner and considering the wishes of the students. However, if students insist on their own opinions, the organization will not be responsible for the final results.
"In fact, there are also ways. For example, Hebei Province can now apply for 96 volunteers in all batches. When filling in the volunteer form, we should have a good impact on the school, stabilize the basic market, and finally come back to the bottom, so that there will be basically no slippage or retreat." said a staff member.
If the student is not admitted, most institutions promise to refund, but the specific terms are different. For example, some institutions only agree that if the examinee is not admitted by the school or major within the score range, the institution will refund the fee in full; Some institutions said that if the examinee's score is more than 20 points higher than the undergraduate grade, the service institution will try its best to help the examinee design a volunteer program, but if not admitted, the service institution will not assume any responsibility. However, the service agency should continue to provide specialized volunteer filling services for them. If the specialized college is not accepted, the agency will refund the fees.
Some college entrance examination planners are "temporary guest stars"
According to relevant data from the Ministry of Education, in 2024, the number of applicants for the national college entrance examination will hit a new record, reaching 13.42 million, an increase of 510000 over last year. The huge market base has given birth to the college entrance examination volunteer filling service market, and has also driven the popularity of relevant practitioners. However, during the investigation, the reporter of RuleLaw found that there is no clear requirement and threshold setting for the access qualification of employees in the market at present, and there is also a lack of corresponding industry standards and norms.
It is understood that most institutions and practitioners adopt a loose form of cooperation, and even recently there have been institutions recruiting part-time college entrance examination volunteer filling staff online. When the reporter dialed the recruitment telephone, the other party said that the organization has established a service relationship with more than 200 candidates to fill in the college entrance examination, and needs a varying number of staff for guidance. The other side said that there is no hard and fast requirement for candidates. If the experience is relatively short, the organization will conduct short-term training. The reporter asked whether there were requirements for academic qualifications and relevant employment certificates. The other side said that none of these were needed. If you have little experience in the past, you can use your education to improve your parents' value. As for the fees, depending on the individual circumstances, each candidate can get a reward of 3000 to 5000 yuan, but it can only be paid after the candidate is admitted by the university.
In addition, there are a large number of training courses for college entrance examination volunteer planners on the market. Some institutions claim that they can become college entrance examination planners in 21 days, and claim that the examination is "covered" to attract applicants.
Frequent problems and lawsuits of service agencies
After searching a complaint platform with college entrance examination volunteers as the key word, hundreds of relevant complaint information appeared. There are many problems, such as unfilled voluntary enrollment, lack of professionalism in services, and even inability to contact institutions after purchasing services.
In addition, litigation due to disputes arising from the college entrance examination volunteer filling service is also common. On the eve of the college entrance examination in 2022, Zhang's father and daughter in Jiangsu signed an agreement with an education investment limited company. After paying 20000 yuan for consulting services, the company guided Zhang's father and daughter to fill in the voluntary report. But in the end, he was not admitted by any university, so both sides filed a lawsuit.
A student's parents in Hunan consulted a consulting company in order to fill in the college entrance examination volunteers. The company told them that they had 80% hope of being admitted to a school, so the parents paid 50000 yuan for the guidance and training of the college entrance examination. As a result, the student was not accepted by the school. Both parties take the lawsuit to the court.
In 2023, the Ministry of Education sorted out and summarized some false fraud cases in recent years, and announced their formal characteristics, including "fake the so-called volunteer filling expert identity" and "fraud in the name of consulting services". The Ministry of Education said that some institutions claimed that "100% coverage" and "no waste of one point", but in fact, in order to improve the so-called success rate of volunteer filling, they encouraged examinees to fill in colleges and universities or majors with lower scores, which damaged the legitimate rights and interests of examinees.
The industry needs unified standards and standardized development
"Some institutions do not consider children's interests and majors very much, and being admitted is their main consideration". Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said that at present, there is a market demand for the college entrance examination volunteer filling service, but at present, some institutions are making money by information gap, lack of understanding of the education industry, and lack of professionalism of employees. Even some institutions cater to parents' anxiety, and the schools and majors they provide are not suitable for students' future development. In addition, there is a lack of uniform standards and norms in the industry at present, and some institutions have false propaganda and false promises.
Therefore, he suggested that the relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of the service market of college entrance examination volunteer filling, formulate clear industry standards and norms, and crack down on false propaganda and fraud.
Then, how should parents and students protect their legitimate rights and interests? Gou Bocheng, a member of the lawyer expert database of Legal Daily and a senior partner of Beijing Kangda Law Firm, suggested that in the process of filling in college entrance examination volunteers, if parents and students entrust relevant institutions to fill in, they need to identify the authenticity of the institutions, and require the other party to provide detailed service processes and evaluation reports to ensure a clear understanding of the service content and effect.
Lawyer Gou Bocheng specially reminded that when signing the contract, the specific school and specialty reported should be specified in the contract, and the liability for breach of contract should be specified. If the institution is found to have fraudulent behaviors such as false publicity and concealment of important information, parents and students can complain to the relevant departments, and claim to cancel the contract and claim compensation for losses in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code.
