This year, the tuition of Pusan National University (PNU) graduate school was raised by 1.65%, while the fees for undergraduates were frozen. This is the highest rate of increase allowed by law. The school takes a stand saying that it is an inevitable decision due to the financial condition.

On March 1st, the PNU tuition review committee announced that the agenda of increasing the fees of graduate school introduced by the university administration in January was passed. The tuition rate of increase that the school administration presented is 1.65%. This is the legal maximum increase in tuition that the Ministry of Education announced this year. The fees of graduate school students were raised to their limit.

Monitoring the progress of PNU graduate school tuition for five years from 2018 to 2022, each raised by 1.65%, 1.87%, 1.95%, 0.6%, 1.65%. Since the spread of COVID-19, most universities have frozen the undergraduates’ tuition, but the fees of graduate schools are soaring every year. According to the Ministry of Education, five out of nine national flagship universities, including Chonnam National University, Chonbuk National University, Chungnam National University, Chungbuk National University, and Gyeongsang National University, raised graduate tuition by 1.2% last year. PNU also tried to raise the tuition of graduate school by 1.2%, but the resistance of the graduate school's student council made the school raise tuition to 0.6%. Other national flagship universities, including Seoul National University, froze the graduation tuition.

The economic burden on graduate school students has increased due to the large increase in their tuition. The head of PNU graduate school students' council, Yang Hyun-Bo (19, Dept. of Psychology), said, "While the tuition of undergraduate school has been frozen for about ten years, the tuition of graduate school is increasing all the time. Many students are feeling pressure and burden by tuition fees because welfare and benefits for graduate school students are decreasing.”

On the condition of accommodating the rise of graduate tuition, the graduate school student council suggested a 'new scholarship program,' 'space expansion for postgraduate students, etc. The Official of the PNU Finance department said, "The financial and external condition of the school leaves us no choice but to increase the tuition of graduate school while freezing the tuition of undergraduate school. We will carry out what the graduate school student council requested as much as we can and try to make sure that many benefits are available to graduate students.”

By Hong Yun-Wu, Reporter 

Translated by Lee Su-Hyun, Reporter