Government to Curb College Tuition Hikes in Korea
According to a report in The Korea Times, the government is poised to encourage Korean universities to stabilize their tuition rates, which have risen rapidly in recent years. The Minister of Strategy and Finance said on Sunday that the Ministry is considering penalizing colleges that raise their tuition too steeply. The penalties would involve offering less financial subsidies to the colleges or loans to their students.
During the first decade of the new millennium, tuition outgrew inflation. The growth rate of the former hovered between 5 and 10 percent while that of the latter was in the vicinity of 3 percent. This means students and their parents have struggled with an increased burden, with average annual tuition standing at as much as 10 million won.