South Korea’s zero-tuition plan threatens private universities

Columns

Free tuition at national universities could deepen inequality and hasten a crisis for Korea’s private colleges.

Faculty groups from 10 private universities outside the capital region, including Yeungnam University, issue a joint statement in front of the Education Ministry in Sejong on Sept. 7, protesting the government’s policy of concentrating financial support on national universities. Their banner reads, “Stop unequal funding policies that are killing regional private universities. Education Ministry, wake up!”
YEUNGNAM UNIVERSITY FACULTY ASSOCIATION

Song Ho-keun

The author is a columnist at the JoongAng Ilbo, a chair professor and director of Doheon Academy, Hallym University.

The moon never emerged from behind the rain clouds. I missed its light. Chuseok moonlight, falling on bodies wearied by summer and awaiting harvest, is a comfort. It is an ancestor’s gentle touch on ordinary people struggling through life. In a state where “the people are the foundation,” moonlight also evokes a ruler’s compassion. King Sejong (r. 1418-50) said he pitied his people. That was the moonlight I wanted.

The president held a press conference. Why did the timeless truth that “politics is done by the people” fail to resonate? Had the people truly been cherished, tenants and younger generations would not have been driven to tears. Housing prices have risen at the fastest rate under any administration. Asked why he chose Kim Seung-won as justice minister nominee, President Lee Jae Myung said he was “thinking about it.” This followed televised scenes of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair embracing Kim in tears at his hearing. Kim eventually withdrew. Had Lee simply said he chose a loyalist willing to cancel prosecutions, suspicions surrounding Supreme Court justice nominations might have eased. Was his pledge to show more consideration and communicate merely rhetoric masking divisive politics?

That divisiveness has spread to education. Tuition for incoming students at national universities outside the capital region will reportedly fall to zero next year, with about 400 billion won ($294 million) allocated through 2030 to 30 public universities. National universities wrapped in the government’s embrace become citizens, while private universities cast aside become noncitizens. No one seems to know who devised this policy or why. Does Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin have some compelling rationale and philosophy?

A herbicide has been sprayed on Korean education. Private institutions were the cornerstone of Joseon-era (1392-1910) and modern Korea’s educational success.

Private institutions were the main vehicles for knowledge and professional skills. Joseon’s official schools consisted largely of Sungkyunkwan, four schools in Seoul and local hyanggyo, government-run Confucian schools. Thousands of privately financed seodang, private village schools, and seowon, upper-level academies, operated nationwide. By the mid-19th century, there were about 1,700 seowon and as many as 100,000 seodang.

King Gojong (r. 1864-1907) later established state schools for English, military studies, agriculture and sericulture, but private educators went further. Protestant missionaries established Paichai Hakdang in 1885, Ewha Hakdang in 1886, Bosung College in 1905 and Yonhi College in 1915, placing private schools at the forefront of modern education.

Keijo Imperial University, the predecessor of Seoul National University, did not open until 1926 under Japanese colonial rule, and Koreans were limited to one-third of the enrollment. Reformers founded private schools to resist Japanese encroachment. Around 1905, Korea had roughly 6,000 private schools and 1,000 night schools. Koreans in Jiandao established Seojeon Seosuk in Longjing, while the families of independence activists Lee Hoe-young and Lee Sang-ryong founded Shinheung Military Academy in Samwonpo, training some 3,000 independence fighters. Despite Japan’s Private School Ordinance, private education remained central after liberation.

Today, 156 of Korea’s 195 four-year universities are private. They helped raise Korea’s university enrollment rate to 75 percent. In the 2026 QS rankings of Korean universities, seven of the top 10 were private and three public. In the JoongAng Ilbo’s 2025 university rankings, only six national universities placed among the top 30.

National universities are fewer, but concentrated public investment should have lifted some higher. Zero tuition at national universities violates Koreans’ longstanding sense of balance and fairness. Some things cannot be bought with money: governance that encourages education, research, persistence and dedication.

Universities are classic examples of organized anarchy: fertile ground for quasi-socialism and moral hazard. National universities have no real owners. Preferential tax spending is an anesthetic that encourages such tendencies. Activist politicians who called for abolishing Seoul National University 20 years ago now proudly champion “10 Seoul National Universities.” I want to ask: Do you even understand universities?

For private universities — institutions with owners — such divisive policy could be the final blow. After a decade of frozen tuition and mounting deficits, they now face a demographic cliff. By 2036, the number of college applicants is projected to equal only 80 percent of admissions capacity, falling to 60 percent by 2040. For private universities condemned to a limited lifespan as noncitizens, this Chuseok moonlight must have felt sorrowful. How did the two million private university students erased from the citizenry spend their Chuseok?