17
The tuition regulations for private universities, which have been in place for years, will be relaxed. This is because it has been decided to abolish the regulation that does not provide type 2 national scholarships to universities that increase tuition. This reflects the judgment that universities’ financial difficulties are worsening due to long-standing tuition regulations, and their global competitiveness is declining.
After the global financial crisis, the government
2009
Since 2018, a tuition freeze has been effectively enforced by not providing type 2 national scholarships to universities with tuition increases. National scholarships are divided into Type 1, which is paid directly to students, and Type 2, which is paid to universities, depending on income bracket. When the government distributes financial support to universities, the university uses the funds to support tuition fees for students. The distribution criteria are linked to ‘efforts to freeze and reduce tuition fees.’ Universities that have raised tuition cannot receive type 2 national scholarships.
15
This is why universities have been unable to raise tuition at all for years.
As tuition fees failed to reflect the inflation rate, university finances gradually deteriorated. The ratio of current expenses to tuition income is
98.5
After labor and operating costs reached %, it became difficult to make new investments and innovations. In the end, major private universities, which could no longer hold out last year, decided to pay tuition, bearing the penalty of not receiving type 2 national scholarships.
4~5
Increased by %. At some universities, students even came out in favor of increasing tuition fees, saying, “We are concerned about the decline in the global competitiveness of universities.”
As the government has signaled that it will no longer enforce a tuition freeze, it is expected that universities will have some breathing room in their financial operations. If the National Scholarship Type 2 link is abolished, universities will be able to autonomously increase tuition in accordance with the decision of the Tuition Review Committee without worrying about the government. However, the average inflation rate of the previous three years
1.2
The statutory increase limit of ‘within twice the amount’ must be maintained.
However, we plan to continue to request cooperation from national universities in freezing tuition. An official from the Ministry of Education said, “” Regarding national universities, ‘Seoul National University
10
“As various financial supports, including the ‘make a dog’ policy, are expected to increase, we plan to request cooperation in freezing,” he explained.
https://n.news.naver.com/article/015/0005223946