Education for All?

Posted on : 2012-05-31 14:01 KST Modified on : 2012-05-31 14:01 KST

By Clara Kaitlyn McCurdy-Kirlis
Frigid air filled the Gwanghwamun Square, the historic center of Seoul as protestors from all around South Korea gathered to voice their concerns about the ever-increasing costs of university tuition. On March 30, 2012, flags representing various university campuses throughout Korea fluttered atop poles raised in the air. Students congregated despite their busy lives as both students and part-time workers, a juggling act many maintain between making ends meet and pursuing their career goals. Some students came color coordinated; some came wearing baseball hats with 4,580 (about US$4) printed on them. That number represents the minimum wage they earn at their part-times jobs, an economic necessity for students in Korea. Others came to show support and solidarity with the cause: education for all, at a fair price.
Some Background Information
Since the early 1990’s, the cost of tuition has increased by about 10% every year. With the growing belief that a university education is necessary for getting a job, increasing tuition fees are a high source of stress for the young. At present, 80% of Koreans go to university, but unfortunately a university degree still does not guarantee a job upon graduation. Competition is fierce, and students are desperate to keep up with the norms of their fast paced society.
South Korea has about 130 universities serving a population of 50 million. Well over 10 million live in Seoul in pursuit of the best education and jobs. Given the large supply of college educated workers and the comparatively small number of openings, students and parents alike are willing to do whatever it takes to graduate from a good university in hopes of securing a good job.
Three Lives, Symbolic of Many
As an instructor at Kyung Hee University, one of Seoul’s top 10 universities, I encounter many students who despite the pressure to study hard and work multiple part-time jobs, still hold on to bright hopes for their future.
Mi-jeong, a second year student at Kyung Hee University, is majoring in Communications and Journalism. She came to Seoul from Daegu to attend university and chase her dream, but has found a student life that is more stressful than she had imagined. Mi Jeong’s typical week includes 5 classes and two part-time jobs, and of course the periodic social outings typical of university students. Although her parents help her with tuition and rent, she knows that the additional costs of living in Seoul cause an enormous burden on them, especially with her sister also attending university. Each month she must pay rent of 500,000 (about US$450) and additional expenses such as food, utilities, and books her monthly expenses total 1,200,000 (US$1,100).
Thus, she works as much as she can to help her parents by paying some of her other living expenses. Mi-jeong has two jobs: she is a private tutor four times a week and works the night shift as a guard at the art faculty of Kyung Hee University. As a night guard, she works from 10pm to 2am two times a week, which affects her concentration and ability to study for classes. Usually she finds herself sleepy during classes and stretching herself thin in attempts to get her assignments in on time. She’s always tired and finds it difficult to stay upbeat, but knowing that this is what many students go through to compete in this society helps her feel that she is not alone in her struggles. Mi-jeong is thankful that she doesn’t have to do what two of her friends do to get money to help pay for school: participate in medical experiments.
Seok-min recently graduated with a law degree from Kyung Hee University after nearly seven years of hard work, sleepless nights at the library and 36 hours a week at his part time job. He comes from a lower middle class family that wasn’t able to help him with the high tuition cost. He therefore had to dedicate himself to his studies and 6 days a week from 4-10pm he ventured from class to his part time job, and often stayed at the library to study. That‘s the only way he was able to graduate. Without his part-time job, graduation wouldn’t have been possible, and even with that took him longer than average. He didn’t want to take a high interest loan, so he had decided to pay his way through his years at university rather than being indebted as a fresh graduate. As a student, his exhausting life-style wasn’t exceptional.
Eun-jung, Mi-jeong and Seok-min are tied together in their struggle against rising tuition. Eun-jung is another Kyung Hee University student who has had a tougher life than most people. Her parents died when she was younger and left her and her little sister to care for themselves. Although Eun-jung receives some government support, it’s not enough to cover all the daily and tuition expenses. She works two part-time jobs and is taking 4 classes in hopes of realizing her dream of becoming a professional after graduation. Currently she is majoring in Global Eminence, a euphemism for an undeclared major. Eun-jung finds it difficult to think too far into the future because of the heavy burden of fulfilling her multiple roles as waitress, student, and older sister.
As Mi-jeong, Eun-jung and Seok-min represent the lives of thousands of students throughout Korea, their fight to reduce tuition continues. In fact, a small survey that I recently conducted of my students at Kyung Hee University indicates that the high cost of tuition burdens parents even more than students. Eighty-two percent of the students surveyed stated that their parents pay their tuition, a cost of approximately 6 million per year (about US$5,500), and that doesn’t include the costs of books, rent, and other living expenses. According to the survey, twelve percent of students support their education with a bank loan, already ensuring debt upon graduation. Approximately forty percent of these students have at least one part-time job.
A Family in Danger
Choi Ju-yeong, the vice-president of the National Association of Parents for True-Education, has been concerned with the tuition issue for the past four years. There are about 43 chapters all across Korea and they have about 10,000 parent members. In addition to university tuition, they also work on various other issues such as school violence, student’s human rights, and education costs.
Choi Ju-yeong is the parent of a 2nd year middle school student, although she doesn’t have a college age child yet. However, in order to educate a child for the entirety of their school career, it requires about 300 million (about US$254,000). She confesses that in reality, she doesn’t have that type of money.
The cost of education for one’s children doesn’t just include a university’s annual tuition, but is an amalgamation of costs accrued from early childhood, which in Korea‘s modern and highly competitive society includes attending private after school academic programs. She organizes with the National Task Force for Half Price Tuition in order to resolve this problem.
Each student’s household puts aside part of their budget for tuition. Even after cutting expenses, there is still not enough to cover living expenses and private education fees resulting in stress and suffering for families. To cover all expenses, university students need about 10 million per year. Choi Ju-yeong says that it’s not as if you can just relying on the rest of the family in order to pay for the high tuition costs. Because of that, she thinks that university tuition is a very urgent and pressing problem to student’s parents.
Choi Ju-yeong speaks of a parent in Suwon that had told her that because tuition fees are too high and it’s difficult to gather money, she had put up her house as collateral in order to receive a low-interest loan. Student loans have high interest rates so she gave up on the idea of getting student loans by sacrificing her family’s home. This is but one example of the extreme measures many parents take in hopes of securing their children’s future.
University tuition fees are no longer just an individual issue but rather are a problem that can bankrupt a whole family. Even though Ju Young knew that mortgaging her home to pay for the tuition fees posed a dangerous burden on the whole family, she still did it because that loan was more affordable than the student loans.
This example shows how the current government’s student loan system or a university scholarship and student loan system are not effective. In Korean society, instead of students paying for college tuition, it is mostly parents that provide the tuition fees. Some students with exceptionally good grades can receive a scholarship, but those opportunities are limited. Paying for a university education becomes the family’s responsibility, regardless of economic standing.
The Harsh Reality
With only 23% of a university’s total costs covered by the government, Korean university students receive the least government support among OECD countries: France provides up to 84% for education, Germany 85%, Sweden 90%, Australia 50%, Canada 60%, England 67%, Japan 31%, and the US 31%. Education in Korea has become a commodity that only the rich can afford, and is creating a vicious cycle where only the wealthy can graduate from university. University graduation is now a requirement for getting a job that can contribute to Korea’s present and future society. Yet while students are pressured to pursue university degrees, a job is not guaranteed in South Korea’s highly competitive job market. Ultimately, it is unemployed young people that suffer when they are left jobless and saddled with debt accrued from university costs.
The Next Chapter
Education will be one of the hot issues in the December 2012 presidential election. Students and parents will rally in the streets and demand that education be a social tool accessible to all, the way it was originally intended. The goal is to lower current tuition fees by half nationwide. Some universities have already made slight decreases, showing some level of progress in the movement. The change will most likely be gradual, but people are not giving up; their voices will be heard.
Sources
1) Independent surveys of 92 Kyung Hee University students
2) Three individual student’s names have been changed in the article
3) Workshop: Kim Dong-gyu of the Nationide Tuition Movement
4) Interview with Choi Ju-yeong, the Vice-President of the National Association of Parents for Charm-education.
 
Clara Kaitlyn McCurdy-Kirlis is an English instructor at Kyung Hee University and also a part of the International Strategy Center’s (http://iscenter.or.kr/) Media Team, where foreign nationals document their exposure to issues affecting the Korean Peninsula.
 
The views presented in this column are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Hankyoreh.
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
 

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