Price Hikes: 30 Percent for College Tuition Fees and 48 Percent for Bus Fares

For the past five years, it has turned out that transportation costs such as subway fares, tuition fees for kindergarten, colleges, and others have sharply increased. By contrast, staples such as rice, bread, Chinese cabbage and mobile phone bills showed either a little increase or a decrease in costs.

According to the Statistical Office on February 10, the Consumer Price Index rose 16.2 percent to 116.2 compared to 2000, when the CPI was 100. However, the CPI for commodities increased 19.9 percent. Among them, subway costs rose 61.5 percent, a four-fold increase of the average consumer price inflation from 2000.

Moreover, city bus fares for students and adults rose 55.7 percent and 48.3 percent, respectively, outpacing the increase in taxi fares of 16.9 percent

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Education costs such as tuition fees for college and academic institutes skyrocketed. The cost of kindergarten rose 41.6 percent compared to five years ago, and costs of private universities and two-year colleges rose 30.1 percent and 32.8 percent, respectively. Tuition fees for various private institutes rose relatively high too: 27.2 percent for comprehensive college entrance institutes, 19.9 percent for selective course private institutes, 20.7 percent for art academies, and 19.4 percent for private tutoring.

On the other hand, overland telephone costs and mobile phone costs both dropped by 13.3 percent and 19.8 percent respectively compared to five years ago. Costs for Chinese cabbages dropped 58.5 percent against five years ago, and costs for rice (0.6 percent), bread (6.0 percent), and other staples showed a stable trend.

Along with these, costs for laundry (4.1 percent), beer (4.3 percent), coffee (8.2 percent), stockings (8.9 percent), and public bathing (14.2 percent) increased at a rate below the average consumer price inflation rate, showing a drop in prices overall.

Chang-Won Kim changkim@donga.com