University of Seoul's tuition hike plan for foreign students causes stir

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

Controversy has arisen over the University of Seoul's plan to nearly double the tuition fees paid by foreign students starting next year.

Some students and members of the general public say the sudden hike is unfair and taking advantage of a minority group at the school. However, others say the school's tuition fees are kept artificially low through subsidies from taxpayers and it is improper to provide such a benefit to foreign students who do not pay taxes.

The university held a tuition review committee meeting June 11 and decided to raise the fees for international undergraduate and graduate students entering next year by 100 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

The University of Seoul, an affiliate of Seoul Metropolitan Government, introduced "half-price tuition" in 2012 under former Mayor Park Won-soon to relieve the financial burden on students and parents amid rows over high tuition costs at colleges here.

Since then the tuition for students in the humanities and social science department has remained at 1.02 million won ($906) per semester, regardless of a student's nationality, which is less than half of most of other universities in the country.

The number of foreign students at the University of Seoul was 580 as of 2020, according to a government website on higher education.

The school explained that the increase had been discussed for several years and was aimed at expanding support for international students.

"Beginning several years ago, we have conducted surveys on the necessary support and appropriate tuition fee levels for international students, and what other universities have been doing," an official from the university told The Korea Times.

"We tried to make the tuition for international students at the average level of other national and public universities. We plan to use the money raised to increase scholarships and provide more Korean classes for foreign students," the official said.

According to the minutes of the tuition review committee, the university conducted a survey in January and decided on more support for foreign students who were experiencing difficulty in school life, including writing papers and participating in lectures due to their weak Korean skills.

The school officials also said the 100 percent increase was to put the tuition on a par with that for undergraduates in the humanities and social sciences department at national and public universities nationwide.

However, critics within the university say that it is unreasonable to push such a sharp increase only for foreign students who cannot speak out to protest the decision.

Since it is practically impossible to raise the tuition fees for Korean students as the "half-priced tuition" is a symbol for the school, critics point out that the university is trying to resolve its financial problems by raising money from foreign students.

Some local and foreign students at the university placed a hand-written poster on the school's campus June 15 saying the school was increasing the tuition drastically by taking advantage of the fact that foreign freshmen would not be able to protest the decision.

One of the students, Yang Sun-kyung, said international students were having difficulties balancing work and studies at the same time just like Korean students.

"The Seoul Metropolitan Government should provide more financial support considering the purpose of introducing the half-price tuition system was so that students could focus on learning," Yang said.

"I think the university's administrative process is really wrong," a person wrote on "Everytime," an online community for university students. "I don't think they can just force foreign students to pay twice as much because they don't pay tax. Even though a tuition increase is necessary, the school should increase it gradually at a certain level, which everyone can understand," he said.

But some others support the university's decision, saying it is unfair for foreign students to pay the same tuition fees as Koreans.

"In many countries such as the United States and China, there is a difference in tuition between domestic and foreign students, especially in public or national universities, which are run by government funding or from taxes," one user wrote.

"I don't think students at the university know why their tuition is so cheap. All those benefits are subsidies from Seoul taxpayers' money. Would it sound reasonable for a Korean students to go abroad and ask for a subsidy for expensive tuition from the government of that country?" he said.







Omona, do international students in your country pay for more school? At my old college, nonresidents can pay up to double the tuition at some schools.


source: The Korea Times

Comments

[theweebdream.livejournal.com]

Wait, is there separate tuition for foreigners in the US? I just assumed they paid the out of state price.

I can see this both ways tbh. If the increased tuition really is put towards providing more support for foreign students then I can understand. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just an excuse to squeeze more money out of foreigners either.

[mortkero.livejournal.com]

International student have to pay a lot more than national students here in UK.

[jaequeeragenda.livejournal.com]

damn that blows :/

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

in the UK, foreign students are charged an extortionate amount but so are home students.

Fun fact — I paid £9k per year for three years of my tuition but one year I paid only £2k. That was my year abroad in Korea. No, I didn't go to Seoul University (Sungkyunkwan, baybee), but at the time UK students were given subsidies to study abroad.

Why home students encouraged to study abroad but foreign students being charged a kidney for doing the same thing???? my best bet is that it starts with an r and ends with acism

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

UK unis can charge whatever foreign students whatever they want so they literally go insane o_o

Still pissed they charged us 3x more per year than students before us. Ridiculous. I will literally never be able to pay off my student loans - oh well

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

my parents went to uni for free, even more annoying

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

Can you imagine 👁️👄👁️

I'm so jealous of people who can go to uni for free. 'A friend' came from Germany and they could've gone to uni for free there. Instead they came here and would complain about how poor they were. They were the biggest cheapskate, like once they stole the tip I left after my bday dinner. They also just ordered rice and took the sauce from a side I ordered. Never contributed to parking or petrol costs bc ofc I had to drive everyone around 🙄

After that they made a whole blog about how to 'save money' and retire in your 30s of something. #1 tip is rip off your friends and be a huge fucking leech obviously. I hate her sfm 🤣

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

wtf...

yeah I have a colleague who lived in Germany for a few years and basically all his friends are in their early 30s and still in education and I'm like 'Germans living the fucking dream over here'

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

Dang, idk if I'd STILL wanna be in education in my early 30s tho. Like I want money

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

oh I'd love to, but I'm a knowledge sponge want to know everything... it's part of the reason I became a teacher, you gotta keep learning to be able to teach!

[theweebdream.livejournal.com]

Damn, I didn’t realize college was expensive in the UK too?? That’s more than I paid as a in-state student in the US per year and I didn’t have any scholarships.

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

it's expensive but our payment plans aren't crazy like the US, because ours are provided by the government. we pay our loans back proportional to our income, (eg; low income/unemployed people don't have to pay anything until they start earning over a certain threshold) and I'm pretty sure it's wiped in like....30 years? My friends call it an 'education tax' — you pay a sum every month for a loan you'll probably never actually pay it off, doesn't affect your credit rating or anything, and will be wiped when you're near retirement age, so...

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

I think education should be free, but who cares about my opinion lol

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

I'm South African and international students have to pay an arm and a leg to study here according to economic region.

[tsukino.livejournal.com]

The non-for-profits and private colleges here do charge 100% more for yearly tuition and around 50-75% extra for summer classes for international students. Some of them even charge that for out of state. But some of the state schools, and schools that do not have high ratings, they only charge a few extra thousand. tbh I thought this was generally how it was everywhere.

imho college prices are ridiculous no matter where you are.

[allsugarfree.livejournal.com]

Uni in my country is free even for foreign students, so reading this is wild

[1100003.livejournal.com]

I've done it all. Been local student for free, been part of a region that makes it cheaper, paid full foreign fees and had scholarships covering me as an overseas cashcow.

University is free for foreign students where I currently live, but the cost of living is so high (even for western europe) that it can be an obstacle. There is no financial support options either which is also a problem.

In general though, at least for undergrad, unless the language of instruction is English/French/Spanish etc. realistically you won't get tons of overseas students? There's a big problem if they don't give exemptions to PRs etc though

[snowphone.livejournal.com]

i think tuition for international students in canada is generally almost twice what it is for domestic students. international students are really the bread and butter of the universities. i see that tuition for international students in my program is about $35,000 CAD - that's absurd to me. i think tuition everywhere is way too high (exception for quebec, maybe, although i think they've been increasing it). i'm a proponent of free education, anyways.

[vanilla-09.livejournal.com]

I'm from Montreal and Uni is generally affordable even as the tuition increases and if you're French (from France) you used to pay the same amount as domestic students but that's changed slighlty. We had an issue a few years back where they tried to hiike it up tuition and we were not having it lol. We demonstrated for an entire semester so I really don't think they would try that shit again. But when I see the prices in like Ontario or BC I'm always so shocked by the fees even as a domestic student.

[snowphone.livejournal.com]

yes! i did my BA at concordia with quebec resident tuition because i worked in montreal for a few years before starting. i had just moved to montreal and was young and foolish when those student strikes began so i wasn't supportive but i came around eventually

[radowan.livejournal.com]

I know a few people who teach at UoS, and they've expressed frustration with some foreign students coming to Korea for the experience, and not really for the studies despite being enrolled and attending courses. As in there are students who come, not really planning on graduating, but rather experience Korea as a student and then drop out. It's the weirdest shit ever??? And even though it's not common, I can imagine cases like that being brought up to argue for why foreign students need to pay more.

International students pay a lot more in the universities that i've attended in Sweden and Finland (for me they've been free, but intl students have to pay), but I'm sure prices vary.

[vanilla-09.livejournal.com]

I think most students who study abroad though are in it for the experience and less for the education especially if it's pass or fail evaluation (meaning your grade doesn't actually affect your overall gpa).

[radowan.livejournal.com]

I think that applies a lot on exchange students, but this context I'm referring to international degree students. Basically those who go through the whole application process + paying the fees for a degree in that university, only to do it intending on dropping out (rather than studying) after making use of the student visa to stay for a long as possible. It is weird af to me.

Most studnets start degrees abroad intending on doing both: experiencing the foreing country + graduating with a degree.

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

I think the experience should be considered part of the education, not just grades/exams

[radowan.livejournal.com]

Well obviously. I think you may be misunderstanding the extent referred to here.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

I just looked up my uni and exchange students have to pay the same tution fees each semester as local students, which is about 250€. 900 bucks is A LOT and I wouldn't be able to afford that.

[h0ly-ravioli.livejournal.com]

just looked it up and my uni makes international students pay a tuition fee per year (from the second year on, because they're exonerated from paying during the first year) according to their country's gdp (ie: tier 1 €700, tier 2 €500, etc). they can also request a document we use in italy to declare a family's financial situation that will determine how much they will pay (if they'll pay)