Increase in Non-Face-to-Face Classes Due to COVID-19, 9% Decrease in Student Loan Usage... 11% Drop in Private University Donations

The Education Cost Per Student at General and Education Universities Increased by 1.7%... Total Research Funding at General and Education Universities Also Rose by 8.8%

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Due to the expansion of non-face-to-face classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of students using student loans from the Korea Student Aid Foundation has decreased. The education cost per student increased by more than 270,000 KRW to 16,148,000 KRW, and the total amount of scholarships for general and education universities rose by 32.5 billion KRW to 4.6714 trillion KRW.

On the 31st, the Ministry of Education and the Korea Council for University Education released the 'August 2021 University Information Disclosure Analysis Results' for 195 four-year general and education universities and 133 junior colleges. The August disclosure included data on education cost per student, scholarship scale, student loans, faculty research funds, admission fees, private university reserves and donations, and business promotion expenses usage.

According to the analysis, the number of students using Korea Student Aid Foundation student loans in the second semester of last year and the first semester of this year was 419,942, a decrease of 8.7% (39,930 students) from 459,872 during the same period last year. The number of users of general repayment student loans was 179,357, down 6.3% (12,155 students) from 191,512 last year, and the number of users of income-contingent repayment student loans was 240,585, a 10.3% (27,775 students) decrease from 268,360 last year.

Additionally, the student loan utilization rate dropped by 1.1 percentage points from 13.9% last year to 12.8%. The loan utilization rate at national and public universities was 9.4%, 4.5 percentage points lower than private universities (13.9%), and metropolitan area universities had a rate of 13.6%, 1.5 percentage points higher than non-metropolitan universities (12.1%).

The education cost per student at general and education universities was 16,148,000 KRW, an increase of 271,000 KRW (1.7%) from 15,877,000 KRW the previous year. Education cost per student refers to the amount invested by the school for the education and educational environment of enrolled students.

At national and public universities, the cost was 18,854,000 KRW, up 899,000 KRW (5.0%) from 17,955,000 KRW the previous year, while private universities saw a slight increase of 72,000 KRW (0.5%) to 15,279,000 KRW from 15,207,000 KRW. Metropolitan universities recorded 18,034,000 KRW, up 223,000 KRW (1.3%) from 17,811,000 KRW, and non-metropolitan universities increased by 320,000 KRW (2.2%) to 14,584,000 KRW from 14,264,000 KRW.

The total research funds for general and education universities also rose by 525.6 billion KRW (8.8%) to 6.48 trillion KRW from 5.9544 trillion KRW the previous year. Research funds per full-time faculty member increased by 59.64 million KRW (7.2%) to 88.828 million KRW from 82.864 million KRW. Research funds refer to the costs supported for research by full-time faculty members from internal university sources, central government, local governments, private sectors, and foreign entities. At national and public universities, research funds per full-time faculty member were 118.966 million KRW, up 13.033 million KRW (12.3%) from 105.933 million KRW last year, while private universities recorded 78.291 million KRW, an increase of 3.532 million KRW (4.7%) from 74.759 million KRW.

The total amount of scholarships at general and education universities was 4.6714 trillion KRW, up 32.5 billion KRW (0.7%) from 4.6389 trillion KRW the previous year. By funding source, national scholarships accounted for 2.7358 trillion KRW (58.6%), internal scholarships 1.769 trillion KRW (37.9%), private and others 143.5 billion KRW (3.1%), and local governments 23.2 billion KRW (0.5%).

Meanwhile, the reserve funds in the tuition accounts of general private universities slightly increased to 7.9316 trillion KRW from 7.9186 trillion KRW the previous year, whereas donations to general private universities decreased by 68.8 billion KRW (10.9%) to 561.9 billion KRW from 630.7 billion KRW. By donation type, designated donations accounted for 381.2 billion KRW (67.8%), general donations 172 billion KRW (30.6%), and research donations 8.7 billion KRW (1.5%).

An official from the Ministry of Education explained, "The overall expansion of non-face-to-face classes due to COVID-19 is presumed to be the main factor for the decrease in student loan usage, as living expense loans declined," adding, "The decrease in donations to general private universities is also attributed to insufficient fundraising activities during the COVID-19 situation."

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