Full Tuition Support for 980 Vulnerable Students from 25 Law Schools

Ministry of Education Increases Budget by 380 Million KRW Compared to Last Year... 17% of Total Quota Benefits

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Among approximately 5,700 students enrolled in 25 law schools nationwide this year, 980 students will receive full scholarships.

The Ministry of Education announced on the 4th that it will provide 4.9 billion KRW in national funding for scholarships in 2020 to enable law school students from vulnerable groups to focus on their studies without the burden of tuition fees. This amount is 380 million KRW more than last year.

The scholarship recipients include 980 students from basic livelihood security recipients to those in income bracket 3 who are currently enrolled in law schools, accounting for about 17% of the total law school enrollment. Each of these students will receive full tuition coverage for their enrolled school.

However, the number of times a student can receive the scholarship is limited to a total of 6 semesters per student to prevent excessive scholarship payments to specific students.

For students in income brackets 4 to 6, the 'Income Bracket-Linked Scholarship System' funded by each law school’s own resources will continue to operate. Currently, each law school must allocate at least 30% of tuition revenue to scholarships, and at least 70% of that must be awarded based on economic circumstances (income level).

Law schools will confirm the income bracket fairly and objectively through the social security system only for students applying for scholarships, and will provide more scholarships in order from the lowest income bracket.

In cases where students are unable to apply for income bracket assessment due to unavoidable reasons such as additional admissions, a relief procedure has been established allowing universities to verify income documents independently and decide on scholarship eligibility. In such cases, the student must apply for the income bracket in the second semester of the 2020 academic year, and the university can adjust payments based on the income bracket assessment results.

The Ministry of Education also plans to encourage each law school to freeze or reduce tuition fees and increase scholarships to alleviate students' financial burdens.

To this end, various factors such as tuition levels and scholarship payment rates will be reflected in the calculation formula used to allocate national scholarships to universities, and the selection rate of vulnerable groups will be incorporated into the formula to expand opportunities for vulnerable students to enter the legal profession.

In particular, this year, additional weight will be given to compliance with the legally mandated regional talent selection rate to encourage law schools to expand the selection of regional talents.

Lee Seung-bok, Director of University Academic Policy at the Ministry of Education, stated, "Law schools will continuously expand scholarship payments linked to increasing the selection rate of vulnerable groups, and provide fair educational opportunities for vulnerable students with ability and passion to advance into the legal profession."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.