University students have started their new semester this March, and there are always conflicts between university Headquarters and students. That is because of the registration fee. It is increasing every year. It has become an annual event. They say, “We have to raise tuition fees because of school development, and for the school’s competitiveness. We need a lot of money, so we raise it!” A 7 or 8 percent increase is over the rate of inflation. Chung-Ang University (CAU) decided on a 7.9 percent increase, and sent CAU students’ notices of the registration fees in February. One CAU student said, “I am sorry for my parents, because of the high registration fee every year. It is a circulated situation every year. It gets more difficult to support my university life as time goes by.”
In these situations, many students consider getting scholarships as a financial aid, which can solve some of the serious registration fee problems. Even though scholarships cannot solve the problem completely, it is certain that the system helps students to study more easily without the stress of financial worries, and their parents can afford their sons’ or daughters’ registration fee. Therefore, many students try to gain as much information about scholarships as they can, so that they can be selected for scholarships. In addition, when university students gain scholarships, they believe they can gain other intrinsic rewards as they are participating and doing something more difficult then average.
For these students, CAU’s Administration tries to satisfy students’ needs. They are already aware of the students’ opinions. They have diversified the scholarship system and expanded the sources of scholarships. CAU has 168 scholarships available at the Heukseok-dong campus and 124 scholarships at Anseong campus.
In fact, CAU has many scholarship programs. At first, there were scholarships for students achieving good academic grades. If students achieved high academic grades and met official conditions of the scholarship, the school has reduced the registration fee. The school authorities would subtract the amount of the scholarship from the registration fee. Additionally, there are also different scholarship systems. In each College, many scholarships are designed to fit the needs of their students. Finally, CAU is running a work-study program on campus. They choose students with some computer programming knowledge, and they begin working in the library, student dining hall, or several offices in college departments.
11% of students are on scholarships at Chung-Ang University.
About 11 percent of students have scholarships. This number is similar to other private schools, such as Hanyang University, Sogang University, and so on. In addition to advertising the scholarships, Kang, Kwan-jin, an assistant of student affairs, said, “CAU is trying to give more students opportunities for affluent scholarships. We are always thinking about and caring for students’ life in school.” He also said, “CAU advertises scholarships with many pamphlets, student e-mails, and the school’s official Internet homepage (www.cau.ac.kr).” The assistants of student affairs of other universities also agree with the ideas of CAU’s scholarship system as it is well organized compared to other universities. Nevertheless, school authorities think that these means are insufficient for students who need to take advantage of scholarships. Therefore, they are planning to go to students directly and advertise in classrooms from this semester. Kang, Kwan-jin said, “We go to CAU students and find some people who want to take advantage of the scholarships. I hope to gather many students who are interested in scholarships, and we are willing to meet with them.”
However, CAU students think differently. The Chung-Ang Herald (CAH) investigated one hundred students on the subject of CAU’s scholarship system. Twelve percent of the students are participating in the scholarships. However, many students want more specific and sufficient scholarship information.
One student said, “It seems that school authorities have a diverse scholarship system. However, when they give information, it is not efficient. Maybe, many other CAU students feel like that, too. So, some students look on our scholarship system and feel blinded by it.” Another student insisted that many students know about the scholarships for grades, but we do not know about other scholarships. Even when accessing the Internet site to gain information, useful information is scarce as there is not much there. Moreover, the work-study programs are listed. It is famous among students to go there and look for jobs. However, the pay is lower than other universities and there are many competitors.” These opinions are sometimes found on CAU’s official Internet bulletin.
When asked, 88 percent of students answered “No” to the question, “Do you know about the scholarship programs?” Among them, 25 percent of students thought that many CAU students are indifferent to using the school’s scholarship system. Moreover, 50 percent of students do not confirm or acknowledge e-mails about scholarships that are available to them. Although the rest of the people asked confirm that they had received e-mail about scholarships, almost all of those people rarely replied. One CAU student said, “It is a fact that a lot of information is given to us. However, we do not respond to it well. Therefore, we either do not need the given scholarship information or we are indifferent to its information.”
But students’ problems are caused by school Headquarters’ it. Almost all Chung-Ang University students added their opinions that there is much information not related almost students when Chung-Ang Herald surveyed their thought about scholarship.If the school system is well organized for students, they will be more concerned about using the system. Therefore, school authorities have to endeavor to improve the sources of scholarships and advertise more actively with students.
School authorities want to give many students scholarships. On the contrary, university students hope to apply for more diverse scholarships. However, it is an obvious fact that there is a gap between school authorities and students. Of course, it is not possible for all students to take advantage of school scholarships as they go to school, but now more people than before can take advantage of them. Hence, from now on, we have to try to narrow the gap together.