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By Lee Yeon-woo
Amid what they say are financial struggles, local universities are relying on international students in their decision to raise international student tuition.
This year's hikes for international students are in sharp contrast to tuition for domestic students, which has been frozen for the last 15 years.
Major universities in Seoul, including Chung-Ang University, Hanyang University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, the University of Seoul and Yonsei University, will raise tuition for international students by up to five percent this year, according to those in the education circle.
The main reason for the tuition hikes for international students is government restrictions on raising tuition for domestic students, they say. According to Korea's Higher Education Act, tuition increases cannot be more than 1.5 times the average increase in consumer prices during the three preceding years, meaning that tuition for domestic students can only rise by up to 4.05 percent this year.
However, given that the Ministry of Education offers government grants to schools that freeze or lower tuition for domestic students, universities only raise tuition for international students. Universities that raise their tuition fees for domestic studies face disadvantages when applying for support from the Ministry of Education or other government institutions.
Tuition for international students is not covered under this act. Universities can freely set tuition for them without any limits.
However, international students complain that the new tuition hikes are unfair.
“It's quite unfair if they want to solve the deficit by only raising international students' fees. Some international students come from countries with lower economic status than Korea,” Carolina Fritzie, an Indonesian student majoring in medical physics at the University of Science and Technology in Daejeon, told The Korea Times.
“It would be fair if they increased tuition one or two percent for all students, or if there is no choice, they should offer many more scholarship opportunities for international students,” she said.
Another student, who asked to be addressed only by his surname of Young, said the news will definitely affect his choices in making his future study plans.
“I was actually considering applying to some of the universities that raised tuition this time. Now that I got the news, I think I have to reconsider my options. There's no guarantee that they won't raise tuition again next year … My best option is to receive a scholarship, but again, I have no guarantee whether I can get that,” he said.
In the meantime, universities claim that raising more financial revenue is essential to ensuring quality education. According to the Korean Council for University Education, a domestic student who attends a four-year college paid 6.79 million won ($5,466) on average in 2022, which is a one-percent increase compared to in 2008.
To reduce what they say are deficits amid the combination of rising prices and the tuition freeze for domestic students, as well as reliance on government support, universities are also raising fees for graduate students, both domestic and international. Sogang University and the University of Seoul will raise fees for graduate students from two percent to 4.05 percent in the upcoming semester.