By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Hundreds of university students and civic group members held a rally at Korea University (KU) in Seoul, Friday, calling for a reduction in soaring tuition costs and vowing to step up their fight.
The rally came after the suicide of a man, identified only as Jung, who quit attending KU due to difficulty paying tuition and reportedly took his own life due to his worsening livelihood. His body was found under a bridge crossing the Han River, Monday.
``Private universities annually charging up to $6,800 and government's lukewarm measures are pushing students to kill themselves,'' they said in a joint statement.
Although the government offers loans with low-interest rates to 720,000 students, it is far from helping students suffering from the worsening economy, it said. ``The government should allot more of its budget to help students pay tuition costs.''
They also visited Yonsei University and held a media conference, demanding the school raise measures against high interest rates on installment payments of tuition with credit cards, whereby students are required to pay nearly 20 percent interest.