To poor Vietnamese students, going to school sometimes means sacrifice. For 15-year-old Vo Nguyen Hoang Chi, that sacrifice is selling her hair to pay tuition.

Chi was shocked recently when a school in the central city of Da Nang demanded VND325,000 (US$15) in tuition before she could attend it, a sum equal to the income from dozens of days of hard-work for her mother.

She then decided to sell her hair, which had been nurtured for years, for VND500,000 ($24), following long moments of quiet contemplation.

“I paid the tuition and spent VND25,000 ($1.2) to buy rice for my mom,” the teenager said. “I used the rest to purchase textbooks for the new school year.”

But her new experience without long hair hasn’t been easy, as Chi has lost sleep ever since the hair sale.

“I cry every time I feel nothing down my back,” Chi said.

Nguyen Thi Hue, the girl’s 50-year-old mother, also cannot hold back her tears anytime she sees her daughter weep at the short hair.

Hue has worked multiple jobs, including house cleaning and dish washing, in order to support her two children, but money is always a challenge for the family, especially after her husband was imprisoned not long ago.

Despite all this, Chi already promised herself that she would try to study well to escape poverty.

“I’ll try my best at school,” she insisted.