“Students are left with a large amount of debt when they graduate.” What people believed to be the story of other people is fast becoming the reality for many Korean university students. To address the problem, the government proudly announced the initiation of tax-funded scholarships where numerous students are expected to be benefited from. However, people against the policy point out that the administration should first of all question the unreasonably high amount of tuition before they hand out the scholarships. As for Kookmin University, the school reduced the tuition by a grateful amount of 2% to “rescue students from financial burden.”

The situation seems quite different for international students. Recently, a shocking discovery was made that one prestigious university in Seoul rewarded international students with higher than 2.0 GPA with 70% tuition reduction after interviews with students. This school seems excessively generous towards international students. Then again, this case may not be the only case. Other universities, regardless of location or reputation, are found to be handing out similar scholarships to international students.

For some universities, the original intention of financial support for international students was to recruit international students with little additional costs and become an ‘internationalized’ university, simply by receiving higher scores on the university evaluations. To illustrate the point, assume that a school prepares a curriculum for 50 Korean students. With the curriculum and students in-place, the school might seek additional 5 students from overseas. Even if the school provides 50% scholarship and international students pay 50% of the tuition, the school earns extra income. However, the problem became apparent when the number of international students grew dramatically. The need to support these international students grew significantly and the schools are experiencing financial losses. The problem may get worse as Korea is expected to have 100,000 international students in several years.

Regarding the issue of ‘generosity’ towards international students, the Korean government noticed the problem years back and decided to take an action. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Justice decided to cooperate and evaluate schools for their international student scholarship practices. From the evaluation that started last year, 10 universities and colleges were rated outstanding and serve as role models for other schools. At the same time, 36 universities and colleges failed the evaluation. Of those failed schools, 17 schools were restricted to issue student visas.

As for Kookmin University, the situation is neither great nor bad. The school admitted a high degree of scholarships to international students in previous years. For example, every international student was given the benefit of 50% reduction in tuition before 2011. The school indicated that the system has been adjusted after 2011. The school provides scholarships based on students’ grades although one can raise the issue of fairness. Regardless of how the systems are changing, the voice of unfairness will continue.

Choi Yun-Seoung(Reporter)

paulc0615@kookmin.ac.kr