The ruling Saenuri Party is considering providing college education for free to students from the bottom 20 percent in terms of income, a party official said Wednesday.

Lower college tuition has been a cornerstone of the conservative party’s election pledges ahead of both last April’s parliamentary polls and the upcoming presidential vote in December.

“We are considering expanding free tuition from people living off social security benefits to those from the bottom 20 percent earnings bracket,” the official told Yonhap News Agency by phone, asking not to be identified.

The official works for the party’s presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye.

“We are also thinking of cutting tuition by 75 percent for students whose earnings are in the lower 20-40 percent income bracket,” the official added.

The tuition cuts would take effect from 2014 under this plan and comes as the ruling party also said it wants to lower interest rates on college tuition loans to lessen the payment burden for students and their families.

The government currently provides about 4.5 million won ($4,016) per year to students on social security benefits, which is equivalent to the annual tuition offered by public universities.

South Korean students have repeatedly called for slashing tuition costs in recent decades. Last year, thousands of students and civic activists rallied in Seoul to call for government measures to curb soaring tuition fees.

In February, South Korean universities cut annual tuition by an average of 4.5 percent for the academic year, according to the education ministry. The average tuition fee across 186 universities is 6.7 million won, down 4.48 percent from last year’s average.

It was the first time the country’s universities lowered their tuition after South Korea came into being in 1948. (Yonhap News)