Survey of college graduates… 1 in 5 people ‘increase the priority of supporting local national universities’

Survey of college graduates… 1 in 5 said, “Raise priority on supporting local national universities”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Oh Bo-ram = It was found that 4 out of 10 students who applied to local national universities in the 2027 college admissions rolling admissions program answered that the '0 won tuition' policy had an influence on their decision to apply.

According to a survey of 2,705 applicants for the 2027 academic year conducted by Jinksa on the 16th, 42.2% of the 1,511 students who applied to local national universities responded that tuition policy had an influence on their decision or method of application.

By detailed response, the largest response at 21.3% was 'This policy has increased the priority of supporting local national universities.'

11.8% of respondents said, 'There was no support plan, but new support was provided due to the influence of the policy', and 9.1% responded that 'We increased the number of universities supported by local national universities compared to the original plan.'

Because of the tuition support policy, more than 20% of test takers applied to new local national universities or increased the number of universities they applied to than originally planned.

On the other hand, more than half of the respondents (54.1%) responded that ‘I was aware of the tuition support policy, but it did not affect the decision to apply.’

The response that they were not aware of the policy itself was 3.7%.

The most common reason for applying to a local national university, at 58.9% (multiple responses), was 'because I thought I had a chance of being accepted based on my grades.'

'Because the financial burden such as tuition and living expenses is relatively low' followed at 49.0%, followed by 'because it is considered advantageous in terms of employment and career path' (34.6%), and 'because it is close to residence or convenient for commuting and living' (33.6%).

19.4% of respondents said, ‘I expect that the university’s competitiveness will increase with the policy of creating 10 Seoul National University universities.’

Wooyeon-cheol, head of the Entrance Strategy Research Institute at Jinjaksa, said, "It was confirmed that the tuition support policy had an impact on some test takers' new applications to local national universities and the expansion of the number of universities they applied to." He added, "It needs to be seen as the result of a complex effect of not only tuition, but also the possibility of acceptance, financial burden, and employment and career prospects."