University students demand financial aid, right to education

Members of the Association of Student Councils Network, a union of 26 university student councils, rally in front of the Government Complex building in Seoul, Monday. /Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

University students are calling on the government to come up with measures to protect their right to education and help them survive financially, as many are struggling due to disruptions caused by the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, according to the union of student councils, Tuesday.

The Association of Student Councils Network, a union of 26 university student councils, said during a news conference in front of the government complex in Seoul that students are on the brink of disaster as schools are unprepared to handle this situation.

Jun Da-hyun, co-chairman of the association, spoke during the news conference about the calls the association had already made for the government and the National Assembly to ensure that tuition fees were refunded, online lectures were improved and students were helped with housing issues. "They have not answered anything," Jun said.

"In addition, the Ministry of Education shifted their responsibility onto the shoulders of each university, while students have flooded social media with tens of thousands of messages stating they want tuition fee refunds and more than 130,000 people signed a petition that was filed with the presidential office calling for a cut in university fees."

According to a survey conducted by the association on 6,261 students across the country over 14 days from March 18, 30.7 percent of respondents said they were struggling with finances, including housing problems. They said they had to pay rent for a dormitory or studio apartment even though they weren't using the facilities due to the postponement of the new school year.

Because of the frozen job market with the COVID-19 epidemic, students who had prepared for employment were also at a loss, the group said.

"Some students had to quit their part-time jobs because of supplementary lecture schedules. COVID-19 has become a threat to the livelihood of students beyond the tuition issue," Jun said.

In regard to the tuition refund, school officials have mostly given negative responses.

"I understand students' complaints and difficulties. However, university tuition has been frozen for almost 10 years, so if refunds are made, universities will face a harder situation," said an official from a university in Seoul.

The group also said only 6.8 percent of students felt satisfied with online lectures, while more than 6,000 responded that they had encountered inconveniences with online classes. As for the most common problems, when multiple answers were allowed 53.1 percent or 2,725 respondents said they had difficulties communicating with professors during the online lectures, and 46.2 percent or 2,371 said they had access problems with school servers.

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