1 out of 5 college students will take semester off in second half

One out of five university students here are planning to take the autumn semester off this year, a survey showed Thursday. / Korea Times file

By Kim Jae-heun

One out of five university students here are planning to take the autumn semester off this year, a survey showed Thursday.

According to online recruiting service Job Korea, 774 students, or 19 percent of 4,076 students who participated in the poll said they would take a break for the semester that starts in September.

The survey also showed that students' responses varied depending on what year they were in.

Nearly 28 percent of senior students said they would take the semester off, followed by juniors at 20.2 percent and sophomores, 16 percent. Only 12.8 percent of freshmen said they would take a break in the second half.

Most students wanted to take time off because of their desire to find a job after graduation: 34.4 percent of the students taking the semester off said they would use the time to find a job, followed by 31.9 percent who have internships, and 28 percent who will prepare for certification exams or other job-related experience required for employment in the future.

Besides employment, another biggest reason was money: 18.6 percent of the students taking the break said they do not have enough money to pay their tuition.

For freshmen, 45.2 percent said they were taking a break to make money for tuition while 55.4 percent of seniors said it was because they needed time to find a job.