On Oct 25, a young man surnamed Chen, who admitted to altering his classmates' college applications, was sentenced to seven months in prison on charges of damaging the computer information system. In court, Chen's mother knelt down before the families of the victims to beg for their forgiveness.

On July 23, two students at Shanxian No. 1 Middle School discovered that they had been admitted to universities to which they did not apply, and reported the case to police. Local police identified Chen, their classmate, as a suspect. A subsequent investigation found that Chen had altered four students' applications in the online application system.

"Chen said he did it out of envy, because these students outperformed him on the college entrance exam," explained Zhu Ruiyu, a police officer handling the case.

On Oct 17, Chen read a letter of apology in court, asking the four victims and their families to forgive him. The four students are now studying in universities to which they were admitted based on the altered applications rather than their actual qualifications. They said they cannot forgive Chen's behavior.

The family members of the students said that the verdict, a seven-month prison sentence, is hard to accept because the punishment is too light.

"It's just seven months. I feel this is unfair. What Chen changed is not just a child's college application; he changed a child's fate," said Tian Minxia, the aunt of one of the victims.