Get a college degree and you'll go far? Ye Dong made it to a 10-sq-m room, at 60 yuan ($9) a month, next door to his old college in Shaoguan, Guangdong province.
有了大学文凭，你的前途就一片光明了？叶东（音译）曾就读于广东韶关某大学，他就在母校附近租了一个10平米的小屋，每月租金60元（合9美元）。

Now 23, Ye earned his diploma in June 2010. But he has barely left the campus. He still eats in the canteens and studies in the classrooms. Living close is convenient and familiar, he said.
现年23岁的叶东2010年6月拿到了大学毕业文凭，但是他几乎没有离开学校。他仍然在吃食堂、在教室上自习。他说，住在学校附近既方便，而且环境又熟悉。

Around almost every college and university in China are cheap apartments and bungalows for rent, where lots of graduates like Ye live. They live and look like enrolled students, but they aren't.
在中国，几乎每所高校附近都有廉价的公寓和平房出租，那里居住着许多像叶东这样的毕业生。他们看起来就跟在校生一样，可他们已不再是学生了。

Such kind of graduates is called "school-drifters". It became a popular search keyword and triggered wide media coverage and further academic research.
这类毕业生被称为“校漂一族”，这个新兴名词引发了媒体的广泛报道和深入的学术研究。

The number is increasing over the years. A simple reason is that each year the number of graduates rises, while the employment rate remains basically the same. A large portion of the unemployed become school-drifters. Some previously employed also come back after a short, unsatisfying, work experience." according to Hu Jiewang, a sociology professor at Jiaying University in Guangdong province.
广东嘉应大学社会学教授胡洁旺（音译）说：“如今，“校漂族”的数量正在逐年上升。简单的说，这是因为毕业生的数目年年在涨，但就业率仍维持不变，这导致大量没有就业的毕业生成了“校漂族”。而先前一些已就业的学生在经历了短暂且不愉快的工作生活后也加入了此行列。”

Ye sees himself as a school-drifter. He said the real world is different from his ideal.
叶东把自己看成是“校漂一族”，他说现实的世界与自己所期望的真是大相径庭。

He landed a job as a production assistant in a local jewelry company in March last year but quit two months later. "The 2,400-yuan ($360) a month salary was high among my classmates, but the job was too tiring. I had only one day off every week and the working hours were too irregular," he said."Entering society made me feel hollow."
去年3月，叶东获得了当地珠宝公司生产助理的工作，两个月后却辞职了。他说：“每月2400元（360美元）的工资在同学中算高的了，但是工作太累。我每周都是单休，而且工作时间又极不规律。进入社会后让我觉得很空虚。”

Not ready to take a job for now - he has some savings, loans from friends and money from an occasional job - Ye and the two school-drifters he lives with decided to try their luck in this year's post-graduate exam. Ye's goal is Jinan University in Guangzhou, where he failed to get in last year. "I want to be a teacher in the future, so I have to pursue higher degrees."
叶东自己有一些存款，这些钱包括他跟朋友借的还有平时兼职攒下的工钱。所以他现在并不打算找工作，而决定和两位“校漂”室友今年一起考研。叶东的目标是去年未录取他的位于广州的暨南大学，“我将来想当一名老师，所以必须得拿到更高的学位”。

Hu said most of the school-drifters aim to enter grad school. Some hope to find a better job; some want to stay in big cities; and some are simply fearful of the intensely competitive job market.
胡教授说，大部分“校漂一族”都打算考研。一些人希望找到更好的工作；一些人想留在大城市；还有一些人只是害怕职场上的激烈竞争。

Living on school resources, Hu said, "is a way of cutting living costs. But they do have some resource conflict with currently enrolled students."
胡教授还说：“利用高校资源生存是降低日常生活开支的一种途径。但是他们与在校学生在使用资源方面上的确产生了冲突。”

Universities are enrolling more and more students, resulting in crowded campuses, full libraries and self-study classrooms, and dining halls as jammed as farmers markets. School-drifters add to that.
大学扩招导致校园拥挤，图书馆和自习教室座无虚席，食堂挤得像农贸市场。“校漂一族”又加剧了此现象。

Why don't drifters return home? "From ancient times the Chinese have had the notion that 'going out' and 'going to colleges' were good. Anybody coming back home without achievements is a loser," Hu said.
为什么“校漂族”不回家乡呢？胡教授解释道：“自古以来，中国人都有这样的观念——‘走出去’和‘上大学’都是好事。若不能衣锦还乡，那他就是一个失败者。”

A too-high expectation from parents could be a burden on students, and could prevent them from returning home after graduation. Many would not tell parents their real situation."
“同时，父母的高期望可能会给学生们造成一种负担，也可能会断了他们毕业后回家乡的念头。其实很多人都不会把自己的真实处境告诉父母。”

After graduation and entering the society, many graduates felt lost. As a result, the number who stayed in school - for further education, for better opportunities, or for the comfort - increased.
在进入社会后，许多毕业生都迷失了方向。结果，那些为了继续深造，为了获取更好的机遇，或是为了今后能有舒适的生活而留在学校的人就越来越多了。