Democratic Party Pledges Half-Price Tuition at National Universities... Also Promotes 'Youth Special Minister' Initiative

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The Democratic Party of Korea announced its education and youth sector pledges for the April 15 general election, focusing on realizing "half-price" tuition fees at national universities and lowering interest rates on student loans.

On the morning of the 8th, Cho Jung-sik, chairman of the Democratic Party’s Policy Committee, announced these election pledges at the National Assembly, stating, "We will improve the quality of education at national universities while reducing the burden of tuition fees."

The Democratic Party plans to first completely reform the "National University Development Project" to strengthen financial investment in national universities. Through this, support for key national universities (9 universities) will increase from the current 10 billion KRW to 50 billion KRW, and support for other national universities (19 universities) will also be raised from 2 billion KRW to 10 billion KRW.

To enhance the educational infrastructure of national universities, they will promote ▲ expansion of excellent faculty ▲ replacement of laboratory and practical training equipment ▲ renovation and repair of aging facilities ▲ expansion of book purchases. Additionally, to induce strategic mutual growth and development with local businesses, public institutions, research institutes, and local governments, the expansion of financial support for national universities will be linked to the promotion of the "Local Government-University Cooperation-Based Regional Innovation Project."

They also promised to reduce the average tuition fee of 39 national universities, currently averaging 4.19 million KRW annually, to around 2.1 million KRW. The shortfall in national universities’ own revenues due to tuition reduction will be covered by increased government subsidies. Even after realizing half-price tuition, student loan programs, national scholarships (adjusted according to tuition levels), and on-campus scholarships will be maintained to alleviate students’ tuition and living expenses burdens.

The Democratic Party plans to expand the unit amount of national scholarships and adjust the payment differences by income brackets to make the scale of national scholarship support for vulnerable groups more realistic. For low-income groups (basic livelihood security recipients, near-poverty, and income bracket 1), the payment amount will be expanded from 5.2 million KRW annually to 7.36 million KRW, which corresponds to 100% of private university tuition. For income bracket 7, the payment will be increased to 30% of private university tuition (from 1.2 million KRW to 2.208 million KRW), and for income bracket 8, to 20% of private university tuition (from 680,000 KRW to 1.472 million KRW).

The Democratic Party also pledged to include graduate students as eligible users of the ICL (Income-Contingent Loan) system. This aims to substantially reduce the financial burden on graduate students, including those in law schools, who pay high tuition fees but receive relatively less research funding and scholarships.

To this end, they will lower government student loan interest rates to the procurement cost level (1.6?1.7%) and convert high-interest, long-term repayment loans such as government-guaranteed student loans before 2009 (6?7% interest) and general student loans from 2010 to 2012 (around 4% interest) into the current 2.0% interest loans. They also promised to include Korea Student Aid Foundation loans in the debt adjustment support provided by the Credit Recovery Committee.

Additionally, as part of their election pledges, the Democratic Party announced plans to establish a "Minister for Youth Affairs" position to reflect youth voices in policy and to lower the reimbursement criteria for election expenses for young candidates running for the National Assembly.

Other pledges include supplying 100,000 customized housing units for youth and newlyweds to guarantee basic housing rights, and providing "Happy Dormitories" through remodeling closed schools in urban areas.

Chairman Cho stated, "To ensure the smooth implementation of these pledges, we will actively promote the enactment of the 'National University Act' and the revision of the 'Special Act on Income-Contingent Student Loan Repayment.' Furthermore, we will expedite the establishment of financial support measures for regional balanced development and higher education finance support."