By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
College students and parents are suffering from room rent hikes along with the burden of expensive tuition. According to real estate agents in Seoul, monthly rental costs have risen overall this year around the city.
Rooms in downtown Seoul are available for about 400,000 to 500,000 won ($345-451) per month, although the rents differ depending on the room size and location.
A 23-square-meter room is also available on average for a year-based deposit of 50 million won. A real estate agent in Shinchon, western Seoul said room rental costs continue to increase every year by about 50,000 won per month.
This means that the rate for yearly deposit money increases 10 percent a year.
Boarding houses, known here as "hasuk-jib," which provide meals and a laundry service, also began to charge up to 50,000 won per month more from this year.
In the past, these kind of rooms didn't require a security deposit for students. However, some boarding houses are beginning to demand deposits from 500,000 to 1 million won.
Landlords say the security deposit is for contingencies such as damages or unscheduled move-outs.
"A student staying at my house suddenly moved out and I had to leave the room vacant without making money. So, I decided to ask for deposit money from this year," said Lee Young-ja, a house owner, living near Ewha Womans University.
She has three studio rooms and charges 500,000 won as deposit money for each room, on top of 400,000 won as the monthly rent. She added that rent contracts must be renewed every six months and deposits will be used to cover the contingencies.
Another house owner in the neighborhood of Korea University in Anam-dong, eastern Seoul, charges 260,000 won per month for a small room with a deposit of 300,000 won.
Apart from an increased burden due to housing costs, students and parents are suffering from tuition increases. The growth rate of college tuitions has hovered between 5 and 10 percent over the last 10 years, while that of inflation was nearly 3 percent.
This trend has forced some college students give up their studies or to work part time, while parents have had to take out loans to pay for their children's education.