Is the dream over? Mainland students rethink Hong Kong over costs and cultural fit

Weeks before mainland Chinese student Carol Chen graduated from Baptist University in Hong Kong in July, the 22-year-old did the math and weighed the cost of living in the city against returning home.

Renting a room in the city would consume around half of the HK$20,000 ($2,552) starting salary she expected as a junior data analyst. "If I go back to Shanghai, I will only need to worry about daily expenses," Chen, a maths and statistics graduate, said, referring to money saved by living with her family.

Language barriers compounded the problem.

Neither Cantonese nor English was her mother tongue, Chen said, and this disadvantage became more evident at seminars and job interviews. "Although the companies did not list Cantonese as a requirement, you'll still be rejected if you cannot speak it," she said, adding she felt out of place in local society.

Chen said she was now more inclined to leave after graduation.

This is despite non-local graduates being allowed to stay for two years without a job if they apply for a visa under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) scheme