[2025 Budget] Scholarships for Low-Income University Students Commuting Long Distances... 9.5 Trillion Won to Address Educational Ladder Inequality

344 Billion KRW Invested to Establish Monthly 200,000 KRW Housing Stability Scholarship
1.667 Trillion KRW Budget Expanded for Low-Income University Students' Work-Study Scholarships

The government has decided to invest 9.5 trillion won in the budget related to expanding educational opportunities, including providing scholarships to low-income college students who commute long distances and expanding work-study scholarships. This decision is based on the judgment that expanding support for low-income students and resolving educational inequality will help create a stable educational environment.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced the next year's government budget plan on the 27th, which includes these measures. The government will newly allocate 34.4 billion won to provide a monthly housing stability scholarship of 200,000 won to 42,000 basic and lower-income college students who attend universities far from their homes. This is aimed at reducing the housing cost burden for about 42,000 low-income college students.

The budget to expand work-study scholarships for low-income college students will also increase by 166.7 billion won. Starting next year, the number of college students eligible for work-study scholarships will expand from the current 140,000 to 200,000. The work-study scholarship system provides work opportunities on and off campus and scholarships to low-income college students to help them secure tuition and living expenses, thereby ensuring stable academic conditions. The government plans to enable up to 1.5 million students, which is 75% of the total 2 million college students, to receive scholarships.

The government's expansion of scholarship recipients is based on the judgment that reducing blind spots is necessary to create a stable educational environment. The Ministry of Economy and Finance noted that among the total 2 million college students, only half are eligible for scholarship support, and although there is a high preference for housing cost support for college students, related support measures are insufficient.

The government will also invest 32 billion won in developing the Neulbom School program. Neulbom School is a national care and education program that integrates and improves elementary after-school programs and care classrooms. Starting from the second semester this year, it will be fully implemented in all elementary schools nationwide, including 6,185 elementary schools and 178 special schools. A Ministry of Economy and Finance official stated, “Although the Neulbom School budget is supported through local government fiscal transfers, the national government will provide 30 billion won in national funds to strengthen national responsibility for program development and other purposes.”

Related budgets amounting to 14.9 trillion won will be invested to expand public housing supply for building a housing ladder. The supply of public housing will increase from the existing 205,000 units to 252,000 units. The government plans to support housing stability for low-income households by increasing rental housing from 115,000 units to 152,000 units and expanding sale housing from 90,000 units to 100,000 units. The Ministry of Economy and Finance emphasized, “Compared to the average public housing supply of 155,000 units over the past five years of the previous government, this is an increase of nearly 100,000 units.” However, it explained that the related budget has slightly decreased compared to this year due to changes in support methods.

A new budget of 16.2 billion won will also be allocated for the introduction of the “Advance Child Support Payment System,” where the state first pays child support to single-parent families and later recovers it from the non-custodial parent. Additionally, 552.8 billion won will be invested to raise monthly child-rearing expenses for single-parent families with a median income of 63% or less from 210,000 won to 230,000 won. Furthermore, the budget for persons with disabilities has been expanded from 6.4 trillion won to 6.8 trillion won, including the establishment of two new emergency care centers for persons with severe developmental disabilities and the pilot introduction of customized medical-intensive residential facilities for them.

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