The first semester of 2024 has begun. All of you would have paid your tuition fees before the start of this semester. Recently, with the announcement of the tuition fee deliberation results for 2024, CAH found a persistent issue of discriminatory increase rates being applied to the tuition fees of domestic students and international students.

1. Tuition Increases for International Students

The tuition fee of CAU is determined through the Enrollment Fee Deliberation Committee before the start of the semester. The committee is composed of the Planning Team Director, Student Affairs Director, Student Representative Committee, and external experts, but there is no representative of international students. The tuition fee for this semester was also determined in the 2^nd  meeting from January. The agenda of ‘5% increase in tuition fee for supernumerary international students’ proposed by the chairman in the first meeting was unanimously agreed upon by the attending committee members, including the representative of graduate students and the representative of Seoul campus students. Compared to the tuition fee of domestic undergraduate students, which has been frozen for the 12th consecutive year since 2012, the tuition fee of international students has been steadily increased annually by 1.3% to 5% since 2016, except for a single freeze in 2021.

2. Reasons for Continuous Increase in Tuition Fees for International Students

Firstly, the lack of legal sanctions against the decision to increase tuition fees for international students at universities is cited as an environmental and external cause of the practice. The increase rate of tuition fees for domestic university students is limited under the ‘Higher Education Act’[1] before the university’s own Enrollment Fee Deliberation Committee meeting. In contrast, foreign undergraduates are treated as outside the entrance quota, and do not receive the protection of the system that limits tuition fee increases. Moreover, increasing the tuition fee for international students carries much less risk for the university than increasing the tuition fee for domestic students. An increase in domestic tuition fees brings a lot of public backlash and also has a very large political impact. In addition, if the tuition fee for domestic students is increased, the university may be disadvantaged in various government financial supports such as State Scholarship II. This is because the Ministry of Education maintains a policy of inducing the tuition freeze through measures such as increasing state scholarships and expanding support for higher education budgets.

On the other hand, the increase and expansion of tuition fees for international students has been considered a good means for universities to supplement their insufficient financial resources. It is not only easy to adjust the tuition fees for international students, but it is also generally seen as a good idea to increase the number of selected students compared to domestic students. The number of international students selected can be up to 10% of the total quota for degree programs and 30% for non-degree programs. According to the 2022 Ministry of Education statistics, CAU was revealed to be the ‘university with the 6^th highest number of international students’ among all universities in Korea. Also, according to the CAU statistical yearbook, the ratio of international students to the total number of students has been gradually increasing, with 12.49% in 2020, 13.79% in 2021, and 14.97% in 2023. As such, many international students are enrolled at CAU and the number is increasing. Then, let’s listen to some opinions on the increase in tuition fees for international students.

3. Interview with International Students

Q1. Do you feel that the current tuition is expensive for international students at CAU?

A: I thought the tuition was okay when I entered the school, but I think the situation where tuition increases every semester is unacceptable to many international students.

B: I think the price is a little bit high, we need to spend almost 9 million won a year, and my friends also think so, if the tuition was 7-8 million won it would be much more reasonable.

Q2. As a result of this meeting of Enrollment Fee Deliberation Committee, it was decided that the tuition fee for international students would be raised by 5% again. What do you think about this?

A: I personally do not support this decision. I don't see why tuition is constantly increasing. I already have a lot to spend on studying abroad.

B:I actually expected this，after COVID-19，everything got more expensive. So it doesn't surprise me. Also, 85% of universities in Korea are private, and money is important to them. Furthermore, we don't have any other choice.

Q3. Do you feel that the benefits for international students provided by CAU are comparable to the increase in tuition?

A: I'm in my senior year and I'm still not sure what school incentives there are. I think there are things that the school needs to improve because the incentives of the school are not considerate of international students. In the case of grade scholarships, only students with excellent grades are able to receive them, which is encouraging to learn, but not every semester.

B: I’m not really interested in any other benefits. I can only say that I paid for education, and I got education.

4. What Is the Future of Tuition?

Many experts believe that the constant increase in tuition fees for international students cannot indefinitely serve as a means to supplement the insufficient finances of universities. Indeed, in 2023, 17 out of all four-year(total 194) universities nationwide increased their tuition fees for domestic students despite government regulations. This year, many universities, including Sogang University and Ewha Womans University, have decided to increase their domestic tuition fees by approximately 2% to 5%. Taking this into account, the headquarters of the third meeting of Enrollment Fee Deliberation Committee at CAU announced plans to freeze the tuition fee for the first semester as it is, and to reconsider the increase of the tuition fee for the second semester according to the policy of the Ministry of Education.

In this way, the continuous increase in tuition fees for international students serves only as a temporary shield for the financial problems. On the contrary, it can cause side effects such as damage CAU’s image domestically and abroad. In this difficult situation, CAU must propose a more reasonable and fair solution.