Ewha Womans University said Wednesday it would freeze tuition fees for the 2015 school year, reversing its original plan to raise them by 2.4 percent.

“(The university) will freeze the fees this year in accordance with the government policy to pursue half-priced tuition,” university president Choi Kyung-hwa said during her meeting with Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea at the university campus in Seoul.

But the timing of Hwang’s visit and Choi’s subsequent announcement has sparked speculations that the visit was intended to pressure Ewha, the first major university to announce a tuition hike. Earlier in the month, the university said it would raise tuition fees by 2.4 percent, the maximum amount set by the government.

Hwang has been publicly pressuring local universities not to raise tuition fees. He urged university presidents to refrain from raising their fees this year at a meeting held last week in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul.

Half-priced tuition is one of President Park Geun-hye’s flagship education policies. She aims to reduce students’ financial difficulties by curbing or gradually reducing tuition fees and expanding state-backed scholarship programs. Some students, however, have questioned the policy’s effectiveness, pointing out that it would not substantially lower tuition fees and that not every student receives a state scholarship.

The average college tuition fees decreased slightly from 6.68 million won ($6,154) in 2013 to 6.67 million won in 2014.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)