More universities raise domestic undergrad tuition this year

Members of the University Student Council Network protest against tuition increases in front of the National Assembly building in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, in October last year. [YONHAP]

Twenty-six of 193 four-year universities in Korea raised their tuition for domestic undergraduates in the 2024 academic year, the Ministry of Education said Monday.

Another 166 schools froze their tuition, and one reduced it.

The Education Ministry has been encouraging universities to freeze domestic undergrad tuition by offering funding for the National Scholarship II only to universities implementing a freeze. The funding scheme isn't affected by tuition increases for international undergrads and domestic and international graduate students.

Despite the financial incentive, more universities are raising their tuition.

Sixteen universities raised their tuition in 2023, and only six did so in 2022.

For many universities, the additional tuition revenue outweighs the government funding.

In 2023, Dong-A University brought in 5 billion won ($3.6 million) in additional tuition revenue by hiking tuition by 3.95 percent for undergraduate students and 3.86 percent for graduate students, both international and domestic.

It lost only 2 billion won in government funding by doing so and came out ahead.

"The universities that raised tuition are mostly small schools or theological colleges," an Education Ministry spokesperson said. "Theological universities that don't get financial support from the government have been trying to increase tuition for some time."

Of the 26 schools that raised tuition, 14 are theological universities such as Methodist Theological University, Korea Nazarene University and Seoul Christian University.

The remaining 12 are mostly outside greater Seoul, such as Dong-eui University, Daejin University and Chosun University.

With more universities implementing tuition increases, the average tuition that undergraduate students pay has been increasing.

On average, undergrads paid an annual tuition of 6.8 million won in the 2024 academic year. The figure is up 0.5 percent on-year.

Students at private universities paid an average of 7.63 million won, and those at national and public universities paid an average of 4.2 million won.

Looking at universities by location, students attending universities in greater Seoul paid an average of 7.7 million won, while those outside greater Seoul paid an average of 6.27 million won.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]