Children of wealthy families more likely to be admitted to Seoul universities, survey finds

The main entrance of Seoul National University

7 universities whose students received the fewest scholarships all located in Seoul

The findings of a recent survey back up the widespread assumption that the children of wealthy families are more likely to gain admission to universities in Seoul.

Data about applications for need-based government scholarships at universities around the country over the past two years show that the seven universities whose students received the fewest scholarships were all located in Seoul. The data was made public on Sept. 25 by Park Chan-dae, a Democratic Party lawmaker on the National Assembly’s Education Committee, who requested it from the Ministry of Education and the Korea Student Aid Foundation.

The government scholarships are part of a system designed to reduce the burden of tuition for university students, and only recipients of the government living allowance and members of the lower eight income deciles are eligible to apply. Students from families in the ninth and 10th deciles based on recognized income (9.22 million [US$7,689] and 13.84 million won [US$11,542] in monthly income, respectively) aren’t allowed to apply. Thus, it’s possible to infer that universities with fewer students receiving government scholarships have more students from high income-earning households.

Statistics for 2019 show that an average of 22.37% students were receiving the government scholarship at those seven universities, which was barely half of the 53.58% average across 288 universities around the country. In 2018, the average percentage of scholarship students at the seven universities was 22.71%, with an overall average of 53.86%. As of the spring semester of 2019, these seven universities were Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (15.93%), Kyung Hee University (17.69%), Seoul National University (23.43%), Sungkyunkwan University (24.76%), Sogang University (25.22%), Yonsei University (25.93%), and Korea University (26.03%). At Seoul National University, for example, it can be inferred that about 76% of students are in the ninth or 10th income deciles, making them ineligible to receive government scholarships.

“The fact that many of the students at Seoul’s major universities come from high income-earning families means that universities are functioning not as a means of overcoming class disparities but as a means of reinforcing those disparities. There’s a critical need to devise systematic education policies to restore class mobility and overcome the education gap,” Park said.

By Choi Won-hyung, staff reporter

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