Public university in Seoul waives admission fees

By You Soo-sun

The University of Seoul pledged to abolish application and admission fees for new student enrollees beginning in 2018. This makes the university the first in Korea to scrap both, the university and the city government announced Wednesday.

Around 2,044 students who are expected to enroll in the university will be able to apply without paying a fee, and on being accepted will not have to pay an admission fee ― the one-time fee students pay upon admission. More than 18,000 students are expected to benefit.

“We have been seeking ways to alleviate social inequality and provide everyone with the opportunity to receive higher education,”Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said. “We hope the abolishment of application and admission fees will ease the financial burden for students and their parents.”

This is not the first initiative taken by the city university to make education more affordable. It lowered its tuition by 50 percent in 2012 and lowered the application fee by 10,000 won ($8.81) the following year. As of 2017, the admission fee is 90,000 won, which is waived for students whose parents have lived in Seoul for three years, and the application fee ranges between 35,000 and 70,000 won.

The decision to abolish or lower these fees has been expanding across public universities here, with Kunsan National University in North Jeolla Province kicking it off with an announcement to abolish its admission fee last month. Early this month, 19 more ― including the University of Seoul ― pledged to do the same.