A financial operations briefing session was held on November 3 at Orbis Hall

A financial operations briefing session was held on November 3 at Orbis Hall in response to students’ concerns about the 2025 tuition fee hike. The usage and plans regarding the tuition fee were explained, and students could ask questions about them. Kim Yong-jin, chief of the Budget team of the Office of Planning & Coordination (OPC), answered those questions and reported the current progress of facility reform and student welfare improvement, followed by the announcement of a further increase in the tuition fee.

Tuition income was increased by 10 billion, yet more was spent

The University’s financial resources reach about 500 billion won. An extra 10 billion won was accumulated from the tuition fee hike, which increased operating and student expenses by 12.3 billion won. Each of them increased to 143.5 billion won and 70 billion won.

According to the 2025 audit, however, the university reserve declined by 6.4 billion won, from 139.9 billion won in 2024 to 133.6 billion won this year. That is, there was more expenditure than it earned from the tuition increase.

More than 10 billion won was invested in both the Seoul and Global campuses for facility maintenance work. There will be billions of investments to the maintenance and improvement in Cheongwoon Building, the Students Center, and Smart Class, with the investment for building AI infrastructures. The main construction works operated with more than 100 million won of fund were presented during the briefing, followed by the announcement of extra works undergoing.

Students question accessibility and spending priorities

Where the students’ most interest was placed was the exact allocation of their tuition.

The representative of Kyung Hee University (KHU) Human Rights Center brought up the issue of the lack of elevators in the Seoul Campus. With the signature collection that 1,054 KHU members participated in, she pointed out the delayed installation of the elevator in the Students Center.

She said that other buildings – Neo-Renaissance Building and College of Humanities – are also in need of elevators. Following that, she asked about OPC’s plan to open the list and scale of the budget and build a new fund for supporting students with disabilities.

Kim said, “There are already some requirements about facility improvement for students’ right to learn from the Center for Students with Disabilities.” He then explained the necessity of the political decisions.

According to OPC, installing elevators in the old buildings is not as simple as students’ thoughts. It requires a budget of billions of won and permission from the local government to renovate the campus buildings designated as cultural assets. Kim said the installation of elevators is delayed because of these factors.

For the question about opening the budget allocation prioritization standards, Kim answered that opening it can cause further delays in improvement progress for years. As there are many demands from departments, discussing all the allocation processes with the students would require more time for something to be done. He also said that it is important to accelerate the progress to make practical use of the increased funds.

“OPC observes the whole campus and puts the priority on the most urgent facilities, while the University members usually focus on their surroundings. That’s why the gap between the team and the members happens.”, Kim added. The urgent need for maintenance and replacement of many facilities for pipes, gas, and heating & cooling systems, and the aging buildings and machines, seems to aggravate this gap.

Further tuition increases expected

At the end of the briefing,  Kim announced a further increase in Korean and Foreign students’ tuition fees. According to the current tuition increase rate, which multiplies 1.2 by the 3-year average inflation rate, Korean students’ tuition will increase by 3.0–3.2% next year. The rate was set following the proposal of the Tuition Review Committee and the General Student Association (GSA).

Foreign student tuition increases will be different. Kim expected that it would increase by 5% from the current increase rate next year. It is 40–50% higher than Korean student tuition.

Kim suggested foreign universities’ cases, including England and China. He said that there are many colleges which put double or triple fees on foreign students in England, setting their dependency on foreign student tuition about 25% of whole financial income. The dependency on foreign students’ tuition at KHU, on the other hand, is still 10%. Universities in China often put 2.5 times more on foreign students’ tuition.

The exact increase rate will be decided by the discussion between the Tuition Review Committee and GSA.

During the briefing, Kim kept asking for more trust and support from students. He emphasized that their promise of a better faculty system, improved study capacity, facility maintenance, and student welfare is not an empty word. “KHU’s student-centered system is extraordinary. The tuition fee has indeed gone up, yet this can be offset by the expanded scholarship policy. The remaining burden on students is likely to be caused by inflation.”, he added.