The government and ruling Grand National Party (GNP) have agreed to push to lower the costs of college tuitions by half in a bid to relieve financial burdens on students, senior party officials said Sunday.
"Our party has decided to push to reduce college tuitions by half at least," Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, floor leader of the ruling party, told reporters. "The party will meet students, parents and college officials and work on ways to ease their burdens."
Another party official said the government and the ruling party agreed to push through President Lee Myung-bak's election pledge of the "half-priced" tuition policy and will discuss it at the National Assembly in June.
The government is considering giving subsidies and awarding state scholarships to students in a low-income bracket, according to party officials.
It will also come up with measures to restrain colleges and universities from raising tuition fees, they added.
Defying Lee's appeal to curb the increase in education costs, most private universities and colleges in Seoul and other provincial cities have again decided to raise their tuitions this year.
Students staged protests against the tuition hikes in March, the beginning of the spring semester, and some student representatives even occupied school headquarters.
Korea University, one of the nation's most expensive universities to attend, has decided to raise this year's tuition by 2.9 percent from a year earlier while Hanyang University announced a 2.9 percent increase.