[News Today] UNIV. TUITION TO INCREASE

[LEAD]
College tuition that have been stable for over a decade are set to rise this year. Facing financial struggles, approximately 40 private universities nationwide have decided it's more beneficial to increase fees, even if it means forfeiting government scholarships.

[REPORT]
Seong Gyeong-heon attends a private university in Seoul.

On top of high living expenses, there's a new source of concern.

He heard that college tuition would be increased substantially.

Seong Gyeong-heon / University Student
I'm paying KRW 6.3 mn (USD 4,300) a year. If it increases 5%, I would have to pay KRW 315,000(USD 215) more. So students are worried about the tuition.

Sogang University and Kookmin University already decided to raise this year's tuition by nearly 5% for the first time in 13 and 17 years, respectively.

A large number of private universities in Seoul, including Yonsei University and Kyunghee University, are reviewing a plan to increase their tuition.

Since 2012, the government has been pressuring colleges to refrain from raising tuition by announcing plans to reduce government scholarship subsidies if the universities raise tuition.

Even the Higher Education Act limits a university tuition hike to 1.5 times the inflation rate of the previous 3 years.

With high inflation, however, the ceiling which used to be around 2% soared to over 5% last year.

It became more profitable for universities to raise their tuition almost to the ceiling than to receive government scholarship subsidies.

The Ministry of Education has been asking the universities to freeze tuition, but more than forty institutions have already released their tuition increase plan in a related survey.

Lim Eun-hee / Korea Higher Education Research Institute
Universities are trying to raise tuition since regulations are lacking. The gov’t needs to show them financial assistance plan that meets their tuition freeze.

College student groups announced they would protest such hikes, but tuition is likely to jump as university finance is already stretched thin on top of political uncertainties.