[2020 National Audit] One in Three Medical Students Is a Child of High-Income Families with Annual Income Over 160 Million KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Last year, one out of three medical students who applied for the national scholarship came from households in the 10th income decile with an annual income of over 160 million KRW. While those classified as high-income, from the 8th to 10th deciles, accounted for 61.1%, only 2.7% came from basic livelihood security or near-poverty households.

On the 7th, Kwon Chil-seung, a member of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee (Democratic Party), analyzed the “Status of National Scholarships for Medical Students over the Past Five Years” submitted by the Ministry of Education. Among medical students nationwide who applied for the national scholarship last year, 33.3% were children from the 10th income decile with an annual income exceeding 160 million KRW, the highest proportion among all income brackets. Children from the 9th decile with an annual income over 110 million KRW accounted for 14.8%, followed by children from the 8th decile with over 84 million KRW at 13%.

The proportion of applicants from high-income families (8th to 10th deciles) among medical students nationwide increased by 10.2% over the past five years, from 50.91% in 2015 to 61.11% in 2019. Conversely, the proportion from basic livelihood security and near-poverty households decreased by about 0.5%, from 3.3% to 2.78% during the same period.

This trend was particularly pronounced in so-called “SKY” medical schools such as Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. Among medical students at these three schools, 68.0% came from high-income families (8th to 10th deciles), about 7% higher than the national average. Children from the 10th decile accounted for 43.3% of all applicants, also higher than the national average.

Assemblyman Kwon said, “The fact that about 61% of national medical student scholarship applicants and about 68% of SKY medical student applicants come from high-income families indicates a serious issue of wealth inheritance.” He added, “As the proportion of children from high-income families continues to increase, there is concern that medical school admissions may become an exclusive league for the wealthy.”

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