Students open website for tuition aid
.jpg?w=728)
Lee Mi-yeon, left, and Kim Seo-yeon are among seven Sungkyunkwan University students who recently set up a donation website for those who cannot afford to pay tuition. / Courtesy of Sung Se-woon
By Lee Kyung-min
Seven Sungkyunkwan University students have launched a donation website to help freshmen who cannot afford to pay tuition fees.
The website, titled “Give to Change (https://www.givetochange.co.kr),” was opened on Sep. 17.
The seven students ― Kim Seo-yeon, Kim Eun-sun, Kim Jae-yeon, Park Jin-yong, Sung Se-woon, Choi Chang-hyun, and Lee Mi-yeon ― plan to offer 2 million won ($1,900) each to 10 freshmen entering the university next year, if the total donation reaches the 20 million won ($19,000) mark by then.
The website manager, Sung Se-woon, a public administration major at the university said donation is not that foreign an idea, nor should it be.
“People think donation is only for some big corporations, or celebrities, usually in the amount of tens of millions of won. But it doesn’t have to be a large sum to make it count. That’s why we started this project,” said Sung.
He said they wanted to change the mindset that keeps people from opening up to the idea that “donation is about giving what you can, not how much you give.”
“I heard some of my friends say that they were reluctant to give money under the name of ‘donation’ because they felt that they themselves were not in any way privileged, so they thought ‘why should I give back?’ But, once they gave money, they told me that they realized they were just going against what they are not used to,” Sung added.
And that sense of “giving back” encourages the students to love their university amid the constant frustration over the tuition increase every year.
“Some of my friends also told me that donating money made them feel happy that they can offer help to new students, they have yet to meet,” Sung said.
And by posting who donated on their website, the donators can trust that what they gave is not wasted, Sung explained.
“Posting by the real name basis is not for bragging, but rather visualizing what one can feel happy about.”
Every time the 2 million mark is reached, a three-leaved clover, which is believed to represent happiness, is designed to bloom on their website.
And as of Wednesday, 173 people donated a total of 6.5 million won ($6,100).
Sung said he hopes this initiative spreads throughout universities.
“Doing what we can is more important than criticizing what is not given to us,” Sung said.