National colleges to implement 5% fee hike

Entrance and tuition fees at national universities will rise by 5% this year and the increase rate of dues for school support organizations will also increase by 5% at most.

Private universities also will be asked to keep registration fee increases at or below 5%.

In extending financial support to universities, the government plans to disadvantage schools that refuse to follow the guidelines. Accordingly, private universities, who earlier planned to increase fees by about 10%, are expected to protest the move.

The Ministry of Education said Tuesday that it would keep the increase rate of combined registration fees (entrance fees plus tuition fees plus dues for school support organizations) below the 5% level this year.

Under the guidelines, national universities are to raise entrance and tuition fees by a maximum of 5% for the 2001 academic year and keep dues for school support organizations at or below 5%.

With the 5% increase, the average registration fee per student at a national university for the new term will be 1.388 million won, an increase of 6,000 won from a year earlier.

Lee In-Chul inchul@donga.com