56 Universities Nationwide Decide to Raise Tuition
More Than Double Last Year's Figure
10 Schools Raise Fees Near Ministry of Education's Cap
Universities Cite "Worsening Financial Difficulties"... Annual Increases May Continue
It has been confirmed that more than a quarter of universities nationwide, including about 20 universities in the Seoul area, have raised undergraduate tuition fees this year. Among them, 25 universities recorded an average tuition increase rate in the 5% range.
On the 2nd, each university and the University Information Disclosure system announced that a total of 56 universities have recently held tuition review committees and approved tuition increases for the 2025 academic year.
This corresponds to 28.1% of the total 199 universities classified by the University Information Disclosure system, including 189 four-year universities and 10 education universities. Considering that 26 universities raised tuition last year, more than twice as many universities have already decided to increase tuition.
The number of universities raising tuition is expected to increase further. It is known that many universities that have not yet finalized tuition for this year are also reviewing increases with this in mind.
The universities that have confirmed increases include ▲Catholic University (4.65%) ▲Kyonggi University (5.2%) ▲Kyung Hee University (5.1%) ▲Korea University (5.0%) ▲Dankook University (4.95%) ▲Duksung Women’s University (4.85%) ▲Dongguk University (4.98%) ▲Dongduk Women’s University (4.2%) ▲Sangmyung University (4.95%) ▲Sogang University (4.85%) ▲Sungkyunkwan University (4.9%) ▲Sungshin Women’s University (5.3%) ▲Sookmyung Women’s University (4.85%) ▲Ajou University (5.2%) ▲Yonsei University (4.98%) ▲Wonkwang University (4.85%) ▲Ewha Womans University (3.1%) ▲Inha University (5.2%) ▲Chung-Ang University (4.95%) ▲Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (5.0%) ▲Hanyang University (4.9%).
Ten universities, including University of Seoul, Busan National University of Education, and Korea National University of Education, plan to raise tuition by 5.49%?the upper limit set by the Ministry of Education?or by more than 5.4%, which is close to that limit.
Looking at the universities that decided to raise tuition, major private universities in Seoul and small regional universities were mainly included.
National universities, including Seoul National University and nine other national flagship universities, mostly froze tuition. However, even among national universities, education universities tended to raise tuition.
The government has maintained a tuition freeze policy since 2009. Although universities in principle decide tuition independently, in the early to mid-2000s, tuition was raised indiscriminately, and after large-scale student protests in 2011, tuition caps and national scholarship regulations were introduced. According to the Higher Education Act, tuition cannot be raised by more than 1.5 times the average consumer price inflation rate over the previous three years.
Students affiliated with the National University Student Council Network are holding a protest with signs opposing tuition fee increases in front of the regular general meeting hall of the Korea Council for University Education. Photo by Yonhap News
In particular, the government has effectively blocked tuition increases by restricting the payment of national scholarships if tuition is raised. Because of this, although the consumer price index rose from 100 in 2020 to 114.91 at the end of last year, a 14.9% increase, the average university tuition for the 2024 academic year rose by only 100,000 KRW (1.5%) from 6.72 million KRW in 2020 to 6.82 million KRW per year.
Signs of change in this trend have appeared since two years ago. The tuition increase cap, which was 1.65% in 2022, rose to 4.05% in 2023 and 5.64% in 2024.
The Ministry of Education strongly requested universities to freeze tuition again this year. On the 22nd of last month, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, said at the regular general meeting of the Korean Council for University Education, “I apologize for not meeting expectations,” but added, “From the perspective of students and parents, the economy and livelihoods are difficult, so there is a request for universities to endure a little longer,” asking for cooperation.
However, universities argue that their financial difficulties have worsened as they have been unable to raise tuition for a long time. Because of this, some speculate that tuition increases may continue annually in the future.
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