South Korea's university education spending gap widens again

South Korean universities invested a record 20.72 million won per student in the past year, according to an analysis of university information disclosure by the Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education. This figure represents a 2.6% increase from the previous year, reaching an all-time high.

The analysis, which covered 317 universities including 192 four-year universities and 125 junior colleges, also revealed a widening disparity in educational spending between universities located in the Seoul metropolitan area and those in non-metropolitan regions. After narrowing for two consecutive years, the gap expanded again last year.

Universities in the Seoul metropolitan area saw their per-student education spending increase by 3.5% to 22.28 million won, while non-metropolitan universities' spending rose by 1.7% to 19.38 million won. This resulted in a gap of 2.9 million won between the two regions, up from a narrowed gap of 2.44 million won in the preceding years.

Officials attribute the overall increase in university education spending to expanded national scholarship support and steady growth in higher education funding projects. However, the widening regional gap is largely linked to tuition hikes at private universities in the Seoul area. Many national universities in non-metropolitan regions maintained their tuition fees, contributing to the disparity.