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 (US$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,” said Chen, a maths and statistics graduate.