University tuition fees more than doubled over decade

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- University and college tuition fees in South Korea
more than doubled over the past decade, imposing a heavier financial burden on
parents and students seeking higher education, government data showed Thursday.
According to the data provided by Statistics Korea, tuition fees for national and
public universities here jumped 115.8 percent last year from 1999. Tuition fees
for private schools also surged 80.7 percent, with those for colleges up 90.4
percent over the same period.
The data did not provided the average amount of money that students had to pay
every year.
The increase comes after local private universities were given autonomy to raise
tuition fees in 1989. National and public schools were also granted the right in
2003.
The finance ministry explains schools usually opted to increase tuition fees to
secure funds for their expanded expenditure, which also caused the spike.
The tuition increase comes as students and their parents are under a heavier
financial burden for education as their income declined amid a protracted
economic slump last year.
The government tried to enforce a bill from this spring under which it will
provide long-term state education loans for students allowing them to pay them
back after graduating from school and landing a job.
Some experts, however, say that the bill could serve as an excuse for
universities to raise tuition fees as their students can easily pay with the
state-loan. They worry that the bill could potentially undermine the government's
finances and put students under heavier debt.
Reflecting the concerns, President Lee Myung-bak plans to meet a group of local
college chiefs Friday to ask them to refrain from increasing tuition fees this
year in consideration of continuing economic difficulties.
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