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By Woo Ji-won
International students in Korea can expect tuition fee increases up to 8 percent this semester, while Korean students face a much lower rise.
With universities' fall semester just around the corner, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) has imposed an additional 8 percent charge -- from 268,000 won ($237) to 337,000 won -- on 800 international students, on top of the fees they have already paid. The move will give the school an additional 250 million won for the second semester that starts next month.
Early this year, Seoul universities, including Kyunghee, Hanyang, Konkuk and Sungkyunkwan, raised first-semester tuition fees for international students by up to 7 percent.
According to the Higher Education Act, tuition fee increases are limited to 1.5 percent. But the Ministry of Education said in November that international students are not subject to the regulation.
"In universities outside Korea, there are many cases where tuition fees vary depending on whether you are an international student or not," a ministry official said. "We have no responsibility to equalize every fee."
Universities say the latest fee hike for international students is inevitable to compensate for the extra cost of support services and scholarships for them.
International students at HUFS said there had been inadequate consultation on the increase.
"This is clearly a discriminatory policy," said a Chinese HUFS student who asked to remain anonymous. "I don't see why only foreign students have to pay that much, even if it's for scholarships. If you pay more only to receive your own money, then it isn't a scholarship anymore."
