Tuition Fees Increased at 26 Four-Year Universities... Average Annual Tuition 6.82 Million Won

Medical School Tuition Fees at 9.84 Million Won, the Most Expensive

This year, 26 four-year universities have raised their tuition fees. The atmosphere is gradually breaking the tuition freeze policy that universities have maintained for years.

According to the Ministry of Education and the Korea Council for University Education on the 29th, 26 out of 193 four-year general and education universities, accounting for 13.5%, raised their tuition fees. 166 universities (86%) froze their tuition fees, and one university lowered them.

Ministry of Education. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Until now, universities have not easily raised tuition fees in line with the government's tuition freeze policy. The Ministry of Education only supports Type II national scholarships for universities that freeze or reduce tuition fees. However, as university finances have worsened, universities have started raising tuition fees since last year.

The average annual tuition fee burden per student this year was calculated at 6,827,000 KRW, about 32,000 KRW higher than the previous year (6,794,000 KRW). Private universities charged 7,629,000 KRW, about 3 million KRW higher than national and public universities (4,211,000 KRW). Also, by region, tuition fees were higher in the metropolitan area (7,686,000 KRW) than in non-metropolitan areas (6,274,000 KRW).

By university major, the average tuition fee for medical majors was the highest at 9,843,000 KRW, followed by arts and physical education (7,828,000 KRW), engineering (7,277,000 KRW), natural sciences (6,875,000 KRW), and humanities and social sciences (6,003,000 KRW).

Among junior colleges, 18 out of 130 schools (13.8%) chose to raise tuition fees. 111 schools (85.4%) froze their tuition fees. The average annual tuition fee per junior college student was 6,182,000 KRW, with a larger gap between private colleges (6,250,000 KRW) and public colleges (2,376,000 KRW) compared to four-year universities. By major, the average tuition fees were highest in arts and physical education at 6,759,000 KRW, followed by engineering at 6,269,000 KRW, natural sciences at 6,262,000 KRW, and humanities and social sciences at 5,551,000 KRW.

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