Korea Student Aid Foundation Chairman Bae Byungil Urges Students to Apply for Second Round of National Scholarships by March 17

by Gu Daeseon

Published 10 Feb.2026 11:42(KST)

The Korea Student Aid Foundation (Chairman Bae Byungil) and the Ministry of Education (Minister Choi Gyojin) announced that the “Second Application Period for National Scholarships for the First Semester of 2026” will run until 6:00 p.m. on March 17, and stated that they will actively encourage applications from students who have not yet applied.

The Korea Student Aid Foundation is a quasi-governmental institution under the Ministry of Education that was established in 2009 to provide professional and comprehensive financial aid so that anyone, regardless of economic circumstances, can have access to higher education opportunities according to their will and abilities. Based on an annual budget of more than 11 trillion won, it implements a wide range of programs to foster future talent, including National Scholarships, student loans, work-study scholarships, national excellence scholarships, as well as donations and mentoring.

National Scholarship Second Application Promotional Material

The National Scholarship is an income-linked scholarship funded by the government to ease the tuition burden on university students. It is provided to students whose income and assets fall below a certain level and who meet academic performance requirements.

The level of financial aid is determined by reflecting the student’s and household members’ (parents or spouse) assessed income, the income-converted value of assets such as real estate, and deductions based on the number of siblings. It takes approximately eight weeks to calculate the aid level.

During this second application period, all university students who missed the first application period, including current students, freshmen (such as high school seniors and students retaking the college entrance exam who are scheduled to enroll), readmitted students, and returning students, can apply 24 hours a day through the Korea Student Aid Foundation website and mobile app. When applying for the National Scholarship, Type I and Type II scholarships and the multi-child scholarship are applied for in an integrated manner. For current students, applying during the first application period is the principle, and they are allowed to apply during the second application period only twice while enrolled.

For 2026, the annual support amounts for National Scholarships (Type I, Type II, and multi-child) will maintain the support unit rates that were raised in the second semester of 2025 in order to reduce the tuition burden. First, university students from basic livelihood and near-poverty households, as well as third-born or later university students from multi-child households in income level 8 or below, can receive full tuition support. In addition, students in financial aid levels 1 to 3 can receive 6 million won (6.1 million won for the first and second children in multi-child households), levels 4 to 6 can receive 4.4 million won (5.05 million won for the first and second children in multi-child households), levels 7 to 8 can receive 3.6 million won (4.65 million won for the first and second children in multi-child households), and level 9 can receive 1 million won (1.35 million won for the first and second children and 2 million won for the third child and beyond in multi-child households).

Furthermore, starting from the first semester of 2027, the financial aid level system will be reorganized from the current 10-level system (Levels 1 to 10) to a 5-level system (Levels Ga to Ma) based on the National Scholarship support unit rates.

Currently, the income and asset levels of households applying for financial aid are divided into 10 levels, but the system will be integrated into five levels. This reorganization is intended to align with the National Scholarship support unit rates by level, prevent confusion among beneficiaries caused by frequent level changes, and avoid confusion with income brackets used by the National Data Office (such as in household trend surveys).

As a result, when the financial aid level system is reorganized, the sensitivity to changes in levels is expected to decrease, and institutional confusion will likely be reduced by moving away from structural similarities between the financial aid levels and the income brackets of the National Data Office.

Bae Byungil, Chairman of the Korea Student Aid Foundation, said, “The National Scholarship is the most fundamental financial aid program that supports university students in continuing their studies,” and added, “We hope that students who have not yet applied will not miss this second application period, so that they can apply and reduce their tuition burden.”