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South Korean private spending on public and private education was the highest among advanced countries, with college costs ranking at fourth highest, according to a report compiled by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The report issued the rankings based on the ratio of private educational spending to total GDP.

The report showed 2.9 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to educational spending by the private sector, the highest among countries surveyed. However, this figure did not include tuition for private tutoring or academic institutes, which would no doubt push the figure much higher, experts noted.

The corresponding figure for the education of elementary and middle school students in Korea stood at 0.9 percent, compared with the average of 0.3 percent among advanced countries. The gap widens further when it comes to high school and college students, as educational spending increases significantly in those age groups. This is likely due to the fact that 60 percent of Korean students attend private universities, which are more expensive than their public counterparts.

Average tuition for public universities in South Korea was US$3,623 and for private universities US$6,953, according to the report. Measured in pure dollar amounts, Australia topped the list in terms of college tuition, followed by the U.S. and Japan. South Korea came in fourth.

There was some good news for Korean parents in the OECD report. Based on purchasing power parity, education spending in South Korea translated into US$4,098 for elementary school students, and the corresponding figure for middle and high school students was US$6,410 and US$7,089, respectively, all much lower than the OECD average.

Additionally, the OECD report showed that South Korean private and public sectors spent a total 7.5 percent of its GDP on education, higher than the 5.9-percent average among the 30 OECD member countries and four non-member nations, including Russia.