Gov’t weighs tuition-free education at regional national universities

South Korea is considering offering tuition-free education to all incoming students at national universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area as early as next year, in a major push to keep young people and talent in the regions.

The proposed “regional balance scholarship” would initially cover about 60,000 first-year students at 30 national universities, regardless of household income.

The Education Ministry said Thursday that it is reviewing the plan after presenting it during a presidential policy briefing the previous day. It plans to finalize the eligibility criteria, implementation timeline and extent of tuition coverage by the end of August.

The proposal is part of the Lee Jae Myung administration’s broader effort to curb the concentration of students and jobs in the capital region. It would complement the government’s “10 Seoul National Universities” initiative, which aims to raise the competitiveness of flagship regional universities to a level comparable to Seoul National University.

Through the new scholarship program, the government aims to create an environment in which students can study, build careers and settle in the regions where they grew up.

The proposal has drawn criticism from private universities, which warn that concentrating financial support on public institutions could further worsen enrollment and financial pressures at regional private universities.

Hwang In-sung, secretary-general of the Korean Association of Private University Presidents, accused the government of placing private institutions at a structural disadvantage.

“The government has tied the hands and feet of private universities through prolonged tuition freezes and by lowering the legal ceiling for tuition increases, while now proposing tuition-free education at regional national universities,” Hwang told local daily Dong-A Ilbo.

“Unless regional national universities improve their competitiveness by innovating their curricula, even full scholarships will not be enough to attract top students.”

The association, which represents the presidents of 154 private universities, has repeatedly criticized the government’s higher education policies, arguing that prolonged tuition controls have weakened private universities’ ability to secure sufficient revenue and invest in improving educational quality.

“Private universities are expected to compete with national universities, but government policy effectively ties one side’s hands,” Hwang told The Korea Herald.

The combined annual tuition revenue of the 30 regional national universities is estimated at around 1 trillion won ($705 million).

About 60 percent of that amount is already covered through existing state scholarship programs, according to the ministry.

The government estimates that an additional 400 billion won would be required annually for the new program to cover all undergraduate students.

Officials said they intend to secure a separate budget rather than divert money from existing national scholarship programs or the local education finance grant, which is itself under review.

The actual scope of the program, however, will depend on negotiations with fiscal authorities.

If the government fails to secure sufficient funding, support could be scaled back based on household income or tuition differences among universities and academic programs.

The Education Ministry is also considering revamping the existing Regional Talent Scholarship alongside the creation of the new program.

The current scholarship is available to students who graduate from high schools outside the capital region and enroll at either public or private regional universities.

Under the proposed revision, the scholarship could instead focus on students enrolling at regional private universities, regardless of whether they graduated from a high school in the capital region or elsewhere.