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This paper documents the structure and operations of student governments in contemporary Chinese higher education and their effect on college students’ political trust and party membership. We first investigate the structure and power distribution within student governments in Chinese universities, specifically focusing on the autonomy of student governments and the degree to which they represent students. Second, using a large sample of college students, we examine how participating in student government affects their political trust and party membership. Our results show that student government in Chinese higher education possesses a complex, hierarchical matrix structure with two main parallel systems—the student union and the Chinese Communist Party system. We found that power distribution within student governments is rather uneven, and student organisations that are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party have an unequal share of power. In addition, we found that students’ cadre experience is highly appreciated in student cadre elections, and being a student cadre significantly affects their political trust and party membership during college.

There is a growing awareness of the importance of financial management skills. However, few studies have systematically examined this topic in China’s current higher education (HE) system. In this study, we examine whether enrolling in a finance-related program, either as a degree program or as an elective, improves students’ financial literacy and habits. We conducted a mixed-method study with a sample of 1334 students from seven universities in central China. Multivariate regression, matching methods, and the inverse–probability–weighting methods were used for quantitative analysis. The results indicate that college students are generally dissatisfied with their financial situation. Enrolling in finance-related majors has little effect on improving students’ financial habits, despite a substantial improvement in their financial literacy. In the current HE system, there is a significant lack of personal finance management training. Therefore, curriculum design and field practices regarding students’ personal finance management skills should be introduced to enhance their financial habits.