More than 90 percent of the country’s colleges are expected to either lower or freeze their tuition fees this year in accordance with the government’s effort to reduce the burden shouldered by students and their parents.

According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 317 out of the country’s 339 colleges, including two- to three-year community schools, expressed their willingness to join the government’s policy of giving state scholarships to students whose schools vow not to raise tuition.

“Some 93.5 percent of the schools said they will join the government’s Type 2 scholarship program this year, which means they should at least freeze their tuition fees for the year,” a ministry official said.

Under the two-tier state scholarship system, students from families in the bottom 80 percent income group are entitled to financial support if they earn an above average GPA, or 80 points out of 100, with the amount for each student depending on their income level, which is dubbed the Type 1 scholarship.

As for the Type 2 program, the total amount of support from state coffers is supposed to be decided after the government evaluates each school’s effort to cut tuition and to improve the school’s management. Students can enjoy benefits from this type regardless of their grade or family income level.

Last year when the system was first introduced, 336 colleges participated in the Type 2 program, which led national and public schools to lower tuition costs by an average of 5.5 percent and private schools to reduce them by 3.9 percent, according to the ministry.

“All schools in the Type 2 scholarship project last year fulfilled their obligation of lowering or freezing the fees. We will encourage more colleges this year to strive to reduce students’ burden, which will ultimately do good to the schools themselves,” the ministry official said.

Amid repeated calls for curbing soaring tuition costs, the universities here cut annual fees by an average of 4.5 percent for the academic year in 2012. It was the first time the country’s colleges lowered their tuition since the establishment of South Korea in 1948.

The average tuition of the country’s four-year private universities reached 7.38 million won ($6,996) per year, the second highest among the OECD member countries following the United States.

A total of 2.77 trillion won was earmarked for state scholarships this year, up 525 billion won from a year ago. The government also set the upper limit of a permissible tuition rate increase at 4.7 percent, down from 5 percent in 2012. (Yonhap News)