Collegians afraid of semester’s start

High tuition, soaring rents double whammy for students

By Kim Tae-jong

University student Lee Hyuck now has many worries just weeks ahead of the start of the fall semester. Although he fully spent his two-month summer vacation working at a restaurant, he failed to save enough money to pay for his tuition.

“Since there are other expenses for things such as textbooks and lunch, I just wanted to save money to cover the tuition by myself so as to depend less on my parents, but I only managed to save half the amount,” he said.

The junior said he has juggled part-time jobs and study since he was released from two-year military service last year.

“Of course, I also wanted to go on a trip and catch up with my studies. But I didn’t have many options as paying tuition is the most urgent thing.”

For many university students like Lee, summer vacation has become a time when they can work longer hours to save money to cover rising tuition. Consequently, many university students are now worried about the end of the summer holiday, which will end in two weeks.

Many students coming from other provinces to attend a Seoul-based school have another big problem — finding accommodation. Rents have been surging, making the financial burden heavier on them.

“It’s really hard to find a room that I can afford near my school,” Yonsei University student Kim Sun-woo said. “I was shocked by the high rents.”

Kim from Daegu is preparing to return to university after finishing his military service this year. He first looked at staying in a school dormitory but gave up that plan after learning of its high boarding fee.

The dormitories built through private financing charge students high rates. The dormitories at Yonsei University and Korea University charge about 1.5 million won a semester for a room shared by two students.

Demand for tuition cut

According to Albamon, an online portal for part-time job seekers, about 25 percent of 554 surveyed university students said they will take time off from studying this semester and 55 percent of them said the main reason is they can‘t afford the tuition.

The survey also revealed that 52 percent of the surveyed students have a part-time job during summer vacation in order to save money for tuition. Only 50 percent said they have secured their tuition fees.

Activists demand the government should take immediate measures to relieve the financial burden on students and help them focus on their studies.

“A lot of students have difficulties in securing tuition, and some even turn to loan sharks,” Kim Dong-gyu, an official from Tuition Net said. “The current high tuition has only produced a lot of delinquent student borrowers.”

Activists as well as university students will stage a massive rally on Sept. 29, when the regular session at the National Assembly begins, in order to push lawmakers to take action for tuition reduction, he said, criticizing the government for its lack of effort in coping with the issue.

According to the recent government’s report, a total of 47,945 students borrowed 79.46 billion won from 40 private lenders as of the end of June, meaning each owes 1.6 to 1.7 million won.