Hong Ji Man, a member of the Saenuri Party, said, “Most universities are getting their tuition fees in the form of single payment from students. There is a need to improve on only 26 percent of nationwide universities allowing credit card payment. Moreover, it should be made possible for students to pay tuition fees in 12-month installments as is possible at Harvard University.”
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| ▲ Photographed by Bae Mi Seon | ||
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report “Education at a Glance in 2011: OECD Indications,” the university tuition fees account for 25.81 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Korea, the largest such percentage ratio in the world. This is a huge ratio when compared with that of the second place; 13.35 percent for the U.S. However, credit card payment is allowed in 108 out of the 410 Korean universities, or 26.3 percent in total.
Although the commission charge for university tuition fee payment has been lowered to 1~1.5 percent by card companies, many universities still refuse to permit such payment. Moreover, some students worry about the side effects of adopting credit card payment. Han Soo Jung (’12, Liberal Arts) commented, “The commission charge universities have to pay to the credit card companies can come back to the students through increased tuition fees, which will just become a bigger burden and is not right.” Despite most card companies allow up to 12 month installments, nearly none permit it interest free. Annual card interest is 10 to 20 percent on average, which is similar to that of cash loan interest.
KU is yet not allowing students to use a credit card installment payment system. Instead, KU introduced interest-free four-installment payment. Even though the school has adopted this four-installment payment system, not many students are able to use it. Even those who can are not familiar with the system. “Though we need more accurate figures, the estimated number of students using this system is less than 10 percent in the whole student body,” said a representative of the KU Financial Department.
There are students who think expansion of the installment payment system is necessary. Yoon Kawa (’11, Physics) says, “If students were able to pay their tuition fees in several installments, fewer students would take a year or a semester off just because of financial hardship. In this way, more students would have the chance to study in a stable academic environment and, in addition, would be able to create a greater output, which would be very beneficial to the university.” She stressed how a policy can be mutually beneficial to both the school and students.
Even parents feel the need for an improved payment system. Jin Keum Joo (51, Seoul), a parent of a KU student, says, “Installment payment is not advertised well enough, so I did not learn about it until recently.” Her comment showed the need for promotion of such a useful policy. “However, one has to always be careful to keep track of exact payment periods,” she added. Once the installment payment system becomes more popular and actively used, such factors should be taken into consideration for further improvement.
According to the KU Financial Department, there are practical affair reasons for why the school is yet only allowing a small number of students to use installment payment. “For instance, it is hard to determine whether a freshman, transfer student, or a re-admitted student will actually attend the school, and consequently, it is hard to do for administrative reasons. There are provisions where by one can quit school after paying one to three installments of the tuition fee,” the department explained. Matters related to this issue need an in-depth study and thorough discussion. “The school is discussing whether to adopt the credit card payment policy plus other possible,” it added. It will inform the students of its decision after additional conferencing and revisions.
However, installment payments could be used by a larger number of students if the standards were to be available to more students. The Financial Department commented, “The school is trying hard to increase the number of students eligible for the policy and allow students who receive scholarships as a small portion of the total tuition fee to use installment payment.” There is an urgent need for KU to introduce a policy that can use the already existing one, but more wisely and without any loss.
Bae Mi Seon
rrkseekdls@korea.ac.kr