Real estate brokerage firm Midland Realty calculated the data, assessing the local rental cost of 100 small- to medium-sized private housing estates since 1997. The current price has even surpassed the 1997 record level (HK$20.85 per square foot) by 12 percent. The 1997 peak preceded a crash in the local real estate market in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis.

After struggling with the city’s high rent and cost of living for some years, many mainlanders eventually leave disappointed. While others still continue in the city, hoping for a better tomorrow.

Guan is lucky. She comes from an affluent family and doesn’t have as much financial pressure as some classmates. Her parents — an engineer and former businesswoman in Liaoning — help cover her bills, including her HK$90,000 tuition a year. Even so, she is trying to cut expenses to be less burdensome.

“I stopped buying bottled water even when I got thirsty at school (in Hong Kong), but after a while I realized it was pointless. My calculations showed that I can probably save HK$10 per day or HK$300 per month by drinking less or even eating less, and finally gave up,” she said.

Guan loves Hong Kong. After she graduates, she wants to work in the city. But competition is fierce. Even if she is able to find a job here, she might still need her parent’s help to pay her rent to maintain her standard of living.

Her roommate, Nikki Tao, comes from a similar family background, but has completely different plans after she receives her degree. Tao wants to return home to Shanghai. She cannot fathom continuing to pay Hong Kong’s astronomical rental costs after graduation, even though she could afford it.

They said their classmates, on average, rent cheaper apartments in Sha Tin, Tai Po, Fanling and even village houses in remote areas. Even the most inconvenient of student lodgings generally still costs in the range of HK$3,000 to HK$4,000 per month.

“The rent is expensive, especially considering the amount of money we’re paying for such a small place, but what choice do we have?” said Luo Le, a Sichuanese who also studies in CUHK, observing that this was the price for seeking an education in Hong Kong. “The high rent really bites as we have to forego so many nice things in the city, which we could otherwise afford,” said Luo.

Rent is omnipresent for those living on a shoestring budget. But many plucky mainland students make it work. One such graduate is Lina Dai, 24, born in Tianjin. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Beijing’s Renmin University of China and a Master’s degree from Hong Kong Baptist University. Now she works as a reporter in Hong Kong on a HK$10,000 monthly salary.

Dai and four mainland students are sharing a three-bedroom apartment in Hung Hom. She shares a bunk in one room with a doctoral candidate. The shared room costs her HK$3,400 per month. She moved in five months ago, when her previous landlord sold the apartment and she had to pay 10 percent more for a similar room in the same district.