Education minister says will unveil 5 percent tuition cut plan

SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- The government is consulting with an association of university presidents about ways to curb expensive tuition costs and will soon unveil a plan to cut fees by 5 percent on average next year, the education minister said Wednesday.

South Korean universities are under public scrutiny over annual fee hikes over the past decade, since higher education costs emerged as a hot political issue amid growing household debt and increasing commodity prices.

Pressure mounted after the state audit agency last week released an analysis of universities' financial statements that showed many schools' creative accounting practices resulted in excessive hikes in tuition fees.

"(The ministry) is discussing with the Korean Council for University Education how to cut college tuitions by 5 percent and will soon announce (the plan)," education minister Lee Joo-ho said in a parliamentary budget meeting, without elaborating on details.

His remarks came after 150 university heads belonging to the council earlier this week agreed to try to slash their average tuition costs by 5 percent, though they did not specify how they would accomplish that target.

The government has submitted next year's budget plan, which set aside 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) to help universities reduce tuition fees and expand scholarship for students from lower-income families.

In South Korea, 80 percent of higher education institutions are operated by private foundations that rely heavily on tuition fees for revenue.