Seven in Ten Four-Year Universities Nationwide Raise Tuition Fees

Seven out of ten four-year universities nationwide have raised tuition fees for students this year. This finding comes from an analysis of university information disclosure data released by the Korean Council for University Education on the 29th. Out of 192 institutions surveyed, 130 (67.7%) increased tuition, while the remaining 62 (32.3%) kept them frozen. The average annual tuition per student increased by 147,200 won (2.1%) to 7,270,300 won.

By establishment type, private universities saw a 2.8% increase to 8,231,500 won, while national and public universities rose by only 0.3% to 4,250,000 won. By location, the average in the Seoul metropolitan area was 8,270,000 won, over 1.65 million won higher than in non-metropolitan areas (6,619,600 won). By academic field, medicine had the highest tuition at 10,325,900 won, followed by arts and physical education (8,338,100 won), engineering (7,677,400 won), natural sciences (7,323,300 won), and humanities/social sciences (6,433,700 won).

For vocational colleges, 102 out of 129 institutions (81.6%) raised tuition, while 23 (18.4%) kept them frozen. The average per student increased by 2.7% year-on-year to 6,653,100 won. By establishment type, private vocational colleges averaged 6,686,600 won, and public vocational colleges averaged 2,231,200 won.

The Ministry of Education maintains a policy of freezing tuition fees for national and public universities. Among the 41 national and public institutions, including general universities, colleges of education, and vocational colleges, only three — Korea National University of Education, Cheongju National University of Education, and Kangwon National University of Education — actually raised their tuition fees.