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Household education costs fall amid recession
A survey conducted by Japan Finance Corporation’s Kagoshima branch office has revealed that the average portion of educational costs to the annual income of households with children older than elementary school age in 2011 was 32.9%, while the annual amount of allowance sent to students living separately from their parents had increased by 190,000 yen to 920,000 yen. The authorities attributed the results to the difficult household economic situation because of the depression, which had forced cut back on spending that had been deemed “sanctuary”
According to the Kagoshima branch, families with a yearly income of between 2 and 4 million yen paid the largest portion to education expenditure at 44.1%, which was down 7.5% from the previous year. The average household income was 5,430,000 yen.
The survey was conducted in July 2011 with 140 households that had used the government’s education loan. Among them, 110 families gave valid responses.
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＜タイトル＞
不景気で家庭の教育費が減少
＜第１パラグラフ＞
A survey：調査　　　conducted by…：・・・が実施した　　　has revealed ：＜that以下のこと＞が明らかになった　　　the ~ portion：平均割合　　　annual income：年収　　　households ~ age：小学生の年齢の子どもがいる家庭　　　allowance：手当て；こづかい　　　students ~ parents：両親から離れて暮らしている学生　　　The authorities：当局（日本政策金融公庫鹿児島支店のこと）　　　attributed ~ to…：～の原因を・・・によるものとした　　　because of…：・・・による（due to, on account of, owing to）　　　the depression：不景気（recession）　　　which ~ spending：（不景気が）支出の削減を余儀なくした　　　had ~ deemed…：・・・とみなされてきた　　　sanctuary：聖域
＜第２パラグラフ＞
According to…：・・・によると　　　education expenditure：教育費　　　the ~ year：前年
＜第３パラグラフ＞
The ~ loan：国の教育ローン　　　gave ~ responses：有効回答をした