Private Essay Tutoring Costs 4 Million Won Annually... "Parents of High School Seniors Will Be Strained"

Annual Spending of 1.08 Million Won on Career and College Admission Consulting
"Strengthen College Admission Measures Except for Excluding Killer Questions"

Last year, high school seniors who received career and college admission consulting spent an average of over 1 million KRW annually, while students who took essay private education spent about 4 million KRW.

High School Seniors Spend an Average of 1.08 Million KRW Annually on Career and College Admission Consulting... Essay Private Education Costs Surge to 3.96 Million KRW in 3rd Year

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According to the '2022 Private Education Expenses Statistics' by the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea on the 27th, the private education cost for career and college admission counseling among high school seniors who participated last year was estimated at an average of 90,000 KRW per month. This amounts to 1.08 million KRW annually.

However, actual career and college admission consulting is known to cost several hundred thousand to millions of KRW per session, and the private education expenses for career and college admission consulting among 3rd-year high school students are the highest across elementary, middle, and high school levels. Considering that most students use this consulting once to prepare for early or regular admission applications, the cost per session is estimated to be significant.

Essay private education expenses were also highest among 3rd-year students across all grades.

Last year, the average monthly essay private education cost for high school seniors was 330,000 KRW, the highest among all elementary, middle, and high school grades. This translates to 3.96 million KRW annually.

In particular, essay private education expenses showed a sharp increase in the 3rd year, after averaging 173,000 KRW per month in the 1st year and 206,000 KRW in the 2nd year. It is estimated that high school seniors rely on essay private education to prepare for early admission applications.

"Lack of Public Education Admission Information, Schools Do Not Prepare for Essays" vs "Failure to Utilize Public Education Information" Sparks Debate

Students attending lectures to prepare for essay exams.

Although the government announced a policy to exclude 'killer questions' from the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) to curb private education expenses, private education used during the application and early admission preparation stages remains prevalent.

This is argued to be because the admission information provided by public education does not satisfy parents or students.

Song Kyung-won, Policy Committee Member of the Justice Party, emphasized, "During school career and college admission counseling, there is a lack of feeling that all students are taken care of, so students and parents end up having to find information on their own," adding, "Schools do not prepare anything for essays either."

However, some argue that the high private education expenses for career and college admission consulting and essay education among high school seniors stem from not properly utilizing public education resources.

Despite the availability of extensive admission information through the Korea Council for University Education (KCUE) college admission portal and individual university admission websites, where CSAT scores can be converted and admission cutoffs checked, this information is not being properly utilized.

Education Spending Increases for 11 Consecutive Quarters... Households Tighten Budgets but Increase Education Expenses

Meanwhile, the trend of increasing education spending by domestic households has continued for 11 consecutive quarters. Education was the only expenditure category that did not see a break in its upward trend during this period. Even when excluding inflation effects, real consumption expenditure on education steadily increased for 11 consecutive quarters.

According to the '2023 3rd Quarter Household Trend Survey Results' by Statistics Korea, the average monthly consumption expenditure per household in the 3rd quarter was 2,808,000 KRW. Of this, education expenses accounted for 256,000 KRW, representing 9.1% of total consumption expenditure.

Compared to 239,000 KRW last year, this is a 7.0% increase over one year.

This means that despite tightened household finances leading to overall reduced consumption, education expenses have increased.

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