Jeonbuk National University to Provide 'COVID-19 Special Scholarship' in Response to Tuition Refund Requests...

Average Payment per Person 1.96 Million Won, 10% 196,000 Won for All Undergraduates

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] Jeonbuk National University is promoting tuition fee reduction through a 'COVID-19 Special Scholarship' in response to university students' demands for tuition refunds.

According to Jeonbuk National University on the 6th, it plans to provide 10% of the tuition fees actually paid by students in the first semester of this year as a 'COVID-19 Special Scholarship,' setting a cap of 196,000 KRW, which is 10% of the average payment of 1.96 million KRW per undergraduate student, and will reduce this amount when registering for the second semester.

The recipients are primarily students who paid tuition for the first semester and register for the second semester. Graduates in August will receive direct payments, second semester registrants will have the scholarship applied to their tuition bill, and students who do not register for the second semester will receive the scholarship upon returning to school.

Jeonbuk National University estimates the budget for this special scholarship at approximately 1.9 billion KRW and will finalize the support plan through a supplementary budget around August.

Lee Won-seok, president of the student council, said, “We appreciate the school's bold decision to provide disaster scholarships as the first national university, and we will do our best to restore the academic atmosphere that may have been disrupted by online classes.”

President Kim Dong-won stated, “We decided to provide support hoping to ease the financial burden of parents who are experiencing economic difficulties due to COVID-19, even if only a little.”

Meanwhile, as universities nationwide have conducted semesters through online lectures due to COVID-19, starting with Konkuk University, university students have been demanding tuition refunds. At Jeonbuk National University, voices demanding tuition refunds have increased recently, including one-person protests. Amid this, on the 1st, the Tuition Refund Movement Headquarters, composed of university-related organizations, filed a class-action lawsuit demanding tuition refunds, gathering over 3,500 people from 42 universities nationwide.

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