As inflation continues to rise, next year’s legal upper limit for raising college tuition soared to 5.64 percent, the highest since the system was introduced.

The "tuition freeze" that has been in place since 2009 is expected to be shaken up significantly from next year, as the national scholarship program has made it difficult to control tuition increases. The Ministry of Education has appealed to students to "join the freeze in consideration of the difficult economic situation," but has failed to come up with any concrete measures.

On December 26, the ministry released the "Method for Calculating the Rate of Increase in University (Graduate School) Tuition Fees of 2024," which calls for the legal limit of next year's university tuition increase to 5.64 percent, up 1.59 percentage points from this year. This is the highest since 2011, when the ministry began to set the legal limit for college tuition increases.

The Higher Education Act stipulates that universities can raise tuition within the range that does not exceed 1.5 times the average consumer price inflation rate of the previous three years. Until now, the Ministry of Education has been encouraging universities to freeze tuition fees through a "double regulation" that provides National Scholarship Type II only to universities that have frozen or lowered tuition. Since the mid-2010s, when the financial difficulties of universities became more acute, the legal limit for tuition increases has been only 1 to 2 percent as the inflation rate has remained low. Universities had little incentive to raise tuition until they gave up national scholarships and fell out of favor with the Ministry of Education.

However, the situation changed last year as consumer prices soared. The legal limit for tuition increases for the 2023 academic year has risen to 4.05 percent.

Some universities found it advantageous to raise tuition to the legal limit without receiving National Scholarship Type II support. According to the Korean Council for University Education, 17 universities have raised their undergraduate tuition this year, up 11 from 2022. Dong-a University raised its undergraduate tuition by 3.95 percent this year, gaining 5 billion won in revenue from the previous year. The amount of national scholarship support it did not receive from the tuition increase was some 2 billion won.

This year, tuition fees can be raised more than last year. In a survey of 86 presidents of four-year colleges and universities nationwide conducted in June, 41.7 percent said they plan to raise tuition next year. Another 28.6 percent answered they plan to raise tuition after 2025.

Even though tuition regulations could be neutralized, the Ministry of Education has not come up with any effective measures other than a partial increase in national scholarships. The ministry plans to allocate 350 billion won for National Scholarship Type II next year, an increase of 50 billion won from this year, and increase the budget for higher education support to induce a tuition freeze, but it is unclear whether universities complaining of financial difficulties will follow suit.

Vice Minister of Education Oh Seok-hwan said, "The Ministry of Education has maintained a policy of freezing tuition fees to ease the tuition burden on households. We ask universities to join us in freezing tuition fees in the coming year, considering the difficult economic situation.”