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On February 1st, the sixth Tuition Fee Review Commission was held at 4:30 P.M. It was decided that tuition fee for undergraduates including newly and previously enrolled students would be frozen while that of international students’ would increase.
At the same time, already for a long time, Korean government wants to increase the number of international students in Korea, which makes the decision very strange. If education is too expensive, it will not help even though the government makes many interesting events. In fact, I am almost sure that increased tuition fee will decrease the number of international students a lot and finally Korean universities will get no profit from them.
Of course, it is easier for international students to receive scholarship. We do not need to do any applications, just have to study with good grades and automatically get a scholarship for next semester. In reality, when you study in foreign language, it is not that easy, therefore, it is hard to get scholarship.
In my opinion, even with equal tuition fees, foreign students need much more money and other support because they cannot live with their families. Of course they can go and find some part-time job, but in fact students with studying abroad visa can not work for first six months in Korea and later they can work only limited amount of time. They can not take academic vacation for saving some money because they have to leave Korea in two weeks after signing papers.
I cannot say about students from other countries but there are a lot of things happening in the world and after ruble(Russian money) dropped in 2014, education for Russian students in Korea already became two times more expensive than before. Also, the flight for visiting family costs the same as expenses per two month for Korean students. Of course there are also students who have enough money, but I just want to say that a lot of international students who cannot allow themselves to spend much money will go back home with this decision.
I can understand the increase of tuition fee by reason of higher quality of educating or better conditions but even in this case, tuition fee must be increased for all students, not only for international. Now Korean and international students take same courses, eat same food, live in the same dormitory but somehow foreigners pay more money for the same things.
I think this change causes tough lives for international students and builds a boundary between international students and Koreans by making some distinctions financially.The fact that we have to pay more for education makes me think, will they sell us overcharged food? Will there be enough money to graduate from university? When you live alone in another country far from your family, this kind of worries can make you very stressed and may make you give up in studying abroad.
For me, I am not going to leave Korea because of that, but it makes me feel more of a difference between me and Koreans and it is harder to be close with them. I hope that someone will understand and fix that problem and then I will enjoy studying in Korea remaining time.