Korea Student Aid Foundation Selects 1,500 'SOS Scholars' Facing Academic Dropout Risk... Grants 3 Million KRW Each

The Ministry of Education (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho) and the Korea Student Aid Foundation (Chairman Bae Byung-il) selected 1,500 SOS scholarship recipients for this year’s ‘Lottery Fund Dream Ladder Scholarship Project’ on the 25th.

The SOS scholarship aims to support students who are at risk of discontinuing their studies due to circumstances such as the death or unemployment of their parents, or domestic violence, enabling them to continue their education.

Korea Student Aid Foundation

The number of SOS scholarship recipients has increased every year since its establishment in 2020: 50 in 2020 → 200 in 2021 → 600 in 2022 → 1,000 in 2023 → 1,500 in 2024.

This year, a total of 2,229 students applied for the scholarship through school principal recommendations, and 144 expert committee members recommended by education offices nationwide rigorously evaluated the study plans and urgent support needs. As a result, 1,500 students were finally selected.

Each scholarship recipient receives 300,000 KRW per month for 10 months, totaling 3,000,000 KRW, provided in the form of card points, which can be used for education-related expenses.

In addition to the scholarship, psychological counseling and other mental health programs will be offered to provide multifaceted support so that students can continue their studies in a emotionally stable environment.

Furthermore, the Korea Student Aid Foundation collaborated with its partner credit card company, Hana Card, to introduce an online card issuance system in October 2024 for the convenience of scholarship recipients. Previously, recipients had difficulties obtaining check cards because middle and high school students found it hard to visit banks during business hours due to conflicts with school schedules, and preparing the necessary documents was burdensome.

With the introduction of the online card issuance system, these inconveniences have been resolved, allowing SOS scholarship recipients to apply for their cards anytime via mobile without needing to visit a bank starting from this year’s recipients.

Bae Byung-il, Chairman of the Korea Student Aid Foundation, stated, “We hope students overcome their difficulties through the Lottery Fund Dream Ladder Scholarship, and we will continuously improve the system to enable more convenient access to scholarship benefits.”

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