Decrease in Scholarships at 4-Year Universities, Slight Increase in Education Expenses and Reserves Per Student

Announcement of August University Information Disclosure Analysis Results
196 General and Education Universities
134 Junior Colleges Disclose Per Capita Education Expenses and More

Provided by the Ministry of Education

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] While the amount of scholarships awarded by 4-year general universities and education universities decreased, the per-student education expenses and reserves slightly increased.

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Council for University Education announced the results of the August university information disclosure analysis on the 31st. This disclosure covered a total of 415 universities and was published through University Alimi, also revealing analysis results for 196 4-year general and education universities and 134 junior colleges.

Last year, the per-student education expense at general and education universities was 15,901,000 KRW, an increase of 1.5% (233,000 KRW) compared to the previous year. Education expenses include costs invested by the school for students' education and educational environment based on enrolled students. This includes personnel expenses, operating expenses, scholarships, book purchases, and laboratory practice fees. National and public universities recorded 17,974,000 KRW, up 4.0% (696,000 KRW) from the previous year, while private universities recorded 15,230,000 KRW, up 0.6% (84,000 KRW) during the same period.

The total amount of scholarships was 4.6384 trillion KRW, a decrease of 108.5 billion KRW (2.3%) compared to the previous year. Looking at the composition of scholarship funds by source, national scholarships amounted to 2.7099 trillion KRW, internal scholarships 1.759 trillion KRW, private and others 144.9 billion KRW, and local governments 24.5 billion KRW. Since the phased abolition of admission fees starting in 2018, there has been an effect of expanding scholarships by 40.7 billion KRW compared to 2018 and 94.8 billion KRW compared to 2017. The annual scholarship per student was 3,273,000 KRW, a decrease of 52,000 KRW (1.6%) from the previous year.

The reserve funds in the tuition account of general private universities amounted to 7.8817 trillion KRW, an increase of 98.3 billion KRW (1.3%) from the previous year. Reserves are funds deposited and managed as funds for covering construction costs, scholarship payments, retirement payments, etc., and are divided into principal preservation funds and discretionary funds. The composition ratio of reserves showed construction funds at 45.9%, the highest, followed by specific purpose funds (26.1%), scholarship funds (17.5%), research funds (9.4%), and retirement funds (1.1%). Donations to general private universities were 629.8 billion KRW, an increase of 7.8% (45.7 billion KRW) from the previous year.

In the case of junior colleges, the per-student education expense was 10,356,000 KRW, a decrease of 0.02% (2,000 KRW) from the previous year. The total amount of scholarships was 1.4913 trillion KRW, a decrease of 26.9 billion KRW (1.8%) from the previous year. Like 4-year private universities, the reserve funds in the tuition account of junior colleges were 2.4989 trillion KRW, an increase of 1.9% (46.9 billion KRW) from the previous year. Looking at the composition ratio of reserves, construction funds were the highest at 70.2%, followed by specific purpose funds (14.8%), scholarship funds (10.3%), retirement funds (3.4%), and research funds (1.3%). Donations to private junior colleges were 52.9 billion KRW, an increase of 8.4 billion KRW (18.9%) from the previous year.

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