Repeat examinees will also pay the CSAT exam fee via bank transfer

Improvement Plans for Public Institution Services Enhancing Citizen Experience

After the announcement of the admission guidelines reflecting the increase in medical school quotas for the 2025 academic year, repeat students are taking the mock CSAT on the 4th at the Jongno Academy Mokdong main branch in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The government will significantly expand the number of rapid chargers on highways and promote fee reductions to improve public convenience. Starting this year, the procedure for filling out the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) application will be digitized, and the payment of exam fees via bank transfer will be extended to all test takers, including repeat test takers and those who took the qualification exam.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Economy and Finance reported these measures as part of the "Public Institution Service Improvement Plan for Citizens" at the Economic Ministers' Meeting chaired by Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance.

First, the CSAT application process will be digitized. From August this year, an online application method will be added alongside the current handwritten method, and the bank transfer payment option, currently available only to enrolled students, will be expanded to include all test takers such as repeat test takers and qualification exam candidates. However, in-person application submission will be maintained for identity verification purposes.

The Korea Post's "Overseas Kimchi Air Transport Service," previously available only in the U.S. (during winter) and Japan, will be expanded this month to Canada and Australia, where many overseas Koreans reside, and will be available year-round without any time restrictions.

Rapid chargers on highways, where charging wait times have been long, will be significantly increased, and fee reductions will also be pursued. Qualification exams for commercial vehicles such as taxis, buses, and freight trucks will be extended to weekday evenings and weekends to reduce applicants' waiting days. Starting January next year, the "Online Erroneous Remittance Refund Support," which previously covered up to 50 million KRW per transaction, will be expanded to cover up to 100 million KRW, the online single transfer limit, to enhance the system's effectiveness.

The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund will expand their educational donation services, previously provided to the metropolitan area and some universities, to elementary, middle, and high schools as well as universities nationwide, and will strengthen the content.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance explained, "To establish a continuous service improvement system in public institutions and ensure the practical execution of improvement tasks, performance evaluations on these tasks will be conducted, and additional points will be awarded in this year's public institution management evaluations." They added, "We will also support increasing personnel and institutional improvements to ensure timely service enhancements."