"Reducing Academic Burden for Underprivileged Groups"...Easing Selection Criteria for National Scholarships

Ministry of Education Announces 2023 Customized National Scholarship Support Basic Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The selection criteria for national scholarships aimed at alleviating the academic burden of underprivileged students will be significantly relaxed.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Education announced the ‘2023 Customized National Scholarship Support Basic Plan,’ which encompasses △ the National Scholarship Support Project △ the University Student Work-Study Scholarship Project △ the Outstanding Student National Scholarship Project, among others.

According to the basic plan, the government intends to provide customized national scholarships so that anyone, regardless of economic conditions, can have real opportunities for higher education based on their will and ability.

This year, the total scale of national scholarship support is 4.4447 trillion KRW, including 4.0286 trillion KRW for the National Scholarship Support Project, 367.7 billion KRW for the University Student Work-Study Scholarship Project, and 48.4 billion KRW for the Outstanding Student National Scholarship Project.

On the 21st, students are passing by a bulletin board with notices about contests and employment at Sookmyung Women's University in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

First, the Ministry of Education decided to abolish the academic performance criteria when selecting national scholarship recipients for self-reliant youth who maintain independent livelihoods while continuing their studies. Until last year, academic performance criteria were applied to self-reliant youth according to scholarship support brackets (B grade or higher, C grade or higher for basic and near-poverty students), but from this year, no academic performance criteria will be applied.

The ‘Dream Scholarship,’ which selects promising basic and near-poverty high school students to support overseas study, will relax its academic performance criteria from the second semester of the 2023 academic year (high school grades from top 2 to top 3).

Also, to enable regional talents to ‘graduate from local high schools → enter local universities → find employment and settle in local companies,’ the eligibility for regional talent scholarships will be expanded to include up to the 9th financial aid bracket starting from continuing recipients in the second semester of this year. Through this, the Ministry of Education plans to help outstanding local talents complete their studies locally and grow into key human resources in the regional economy and society.

Furthermore, to strengthen the state’s responsibility for youth and provide growth opportunities, the eligibility for multi-child scholarships will be improved to focus on youth. From the second semester of this year, the support target for multi-child scholarships will be limited to entrants up to age 39, as defined by laws and local government ordinances regarding youth age, while entrants aged 40 and above will be supported under National Scholarship Type I.

From this year, the actual cost portion of the abolished admission fee will be included in tuition and notified to students. The Ministry of Education plans to support the actual cost portion of the admission fee included in tuition for all students regardless of their economic status. However, to receive support for the actual cost portion of the admission fee, students must apply for the national scholarship during the ongoing second application period of the first semester of the 2023 academic year.

Additionally, the Ministry of Education plans to add content related to sexual harassment and power abuse to the mandatory training for work-study scholarship students’ workplace supervisors.

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, said, “In difficult economic conditions such as high inflation and high interest rates, we will maintain the tuition freeze policy to ease household burdens and allow youth, who will lead the future society, to receive university education without worrying about tuition.” He added, “We thank universities that have frozen or lowered tuition despite difficult circumstances, and express regret toward universities that raised tuition without joining the Ministry of Education’s policy direction.”

He continued, “We hope universities still discussing tuition setting will maintain tuition freezes or reductions and join the Ministry of Education’s policy direction.”

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