A series of moves to raise college tuition...Government appeals for 'freeze'

[Anchor]
In line with the government's stance, base national universities have decided to freeze tuition again this year.

However, private universities have decided or discussed raising tuition fees one after another, increasing the possibility that college tuition fees will rise one after another this year.

This is reporter Lee Moon-seok.

[Reporter]
The government continued to freeze tuition this year.

It has been 17 years since 2009.

[O Seok-hwan / Vice Minister of Education (last 8th): Considering the difficulties of people's livelihoods and the severe situation, we have maintained a stance of freezing tuition fees for the 2025 school year.]

In line with this, the 10 base national universities decided to freeze tuition after much consideration.

But the atmosphere of a private university is different.

First, Kookmin University decided to raise tuition for the first time in 17 years, followed by Sogang University.

Other universities are also rushing.

Until the 10th, 19 private universities posted the minutes of discussions on tuition hikes in the university notification.

Furthermore, in a survey conducted by the private university presidents' council, 48 universities said they planned to raise it, and 38 said they were discussing it.

So far, the government has maintained a freeze by halting some state scholarship aid if tuition is raised.

However, private universities are unable to survive only with scholarship support for students.

The government's tuition freeze over the past 16 years has already caused serious problems in improving the educational environment.

[Hwang In-sung / Secretary-General of the Korean Council of Private University Presidents: The competitiveness of universities is bound to weaken further because they do not have such opportunities to improve the educational environment or attract excellent teachers.]

The government has come up with a new incentive to support state scholarships even if universities reduce their on-campus scholarships by 10 percent, but it is questionable whether this alone will stop the movement to raise tuition.

I'm YTN's Lee Munseok.

Reporter for shooting
: Jung Jin-hyun
Video editing: Lee Young-hoon
Design: Jeong-ok