ID :
205981
Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:46
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https://oananews.org//node/205981
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(LEAD) Gov't, ruling party agree to spend 1.5 tln won for tuition support
(ATTN: UPDATES with comments, details in 2-5 paras)
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling party agreed Thursday to set aside 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) in next year's budget to help curb soaring college tuitions, party officials said.
The agreement, reached at a meeting among the Grand National Party (GNP) and the finance and education ministries, follows up on an earlier pledge to cut tuitions by 21 percent for students from lower-income families.
The spending plan calls for using half of the fund to set up "national scholarships" for students from families in the bottom 30 percent income group and the other half as subsidies for students in the bottom 70 percent, Rep. Lee Ju-young, chief policymaker of the GNP, said.
But students will only be eligible if their universities also make their own efforts to lower tuitions, Lee said.
"The universities that do not make their own efforts will not be able to receive the scholarship support for students in the bottom 70 percent income group," Lee said. "We concluded that universities can lower their fees by 5 percent with their own measures."
The move comes as high college tuitions have become a hot political issue as the unpopular ruling party is mulling a package of welfare measures to woo voters ahead of the general elections in April next year.
If the budget proposal is approved in parliament, the fund will be funneled to 346 colleges nationwide, excluding 43 private universities that were ranked at the bottom of a recent government evaluation for their poor management, officials said.
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling party agreed Thursday to set aside 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) in next year's budget to help curb soaring college tuitions, party officials said.
The agreement, reached at a meeting among the Grand National Party (GNP) and the finance and education ministries, follows up on an earlier pledge to cut tuitions by 21 percent for students from lower-income families.
The spending plan calls for using half of the fund to set up "national scholarships" for students from families in the bottom 30 percent income group and the other half as subsidies for students in the bottom 70 percent, Rep. Lee Ju-young, chief policymaker of the GNP, said.
But students will only be eligible if their universities also make their own efforts to lower tuitions, Lee said.
"The universities that do not make their own efforts will not be able to receive the scholarship support for students in the bottom 70 percent income group," Lee said. "We concluded that universities can lower their fees by 5 percent with their own measures."
The move comes as high college tuitions have become a hot political issue as the unpopular ruling party is mulling a package of welfare measures to woo voters ahead of the general elections in April next year.
If the budget proposal is approved in parliament, the fund will be funneled to 346 colleges nationwide, excluding 43 private universities that were ranked at the bottom of a recent government evaluation for their poor management, officials said.
