Korea undergraduate tuition: national/public vs private, metropolitan vs regional

Korean undergraduate tuition cannot be reduced to one number. Study in Korea, operated by the National Institute for International Education, reports annual undergraduate averages of KRW 6,820,243.8 nationwide, KRW 4,265,841.8 for national/public institutions, KRW 7,625,335.6 for private institutions, KRW 7,654,029.5 in metropolitan areas and KRW 6,316,884.6 outside metropolitan areas. These are group averages, not one student's bill.

A practical budget separates averages from university notices. An average helps narrow the school group, while an official tuition notice shows the semester cash requirement. This guide uses official notices from Pusan National University and Yonsei University as examples, but does not label their figures as national minimums or maximums.

How to read the official annual averages

Study in Korea publishes the following annual averages, excluding undergraduate and associate programs at the Korea National Open University and cyber universities.

Institution type and region are different classifications. Not every metropolitan university is private, and not every non-metropolitan university is national/public. The national/public average and non-metropolitan average should not be presented as if they describe the same group.

The official page also gives annual averages by field: KRW 6,003,000 for humanities and social sciences, KRW 6,875,000 for natural sciences, KRW 7,277,200 for engineering, KRW 7,828,200 for arts and physical education, and KRW 9,843,400 for medicine. Applicants need the notice for their intended major, even within the same university.

Pusan National University semester example

The Pusan National University Fall 2026 international undergraduate guide links an English PDF whose p.15 lists tuition by academic group. Humanities, economics and international trade, and business are KRW 2,069,000; natural sciences are KRW 2,705,000; and engineering is KRW 2,932,000. Arts entries are KRW 2,867,000 or KRW 3,197,000 depending on the department.

The within-university range visible in this table is KRW 2,069,000 to KRW 3,197,000. The PDF also states that tuition is subject to change. These numbers are official comparison examples; the current individual invoice remains the payment reference.

The Pusan example shows how one non-metropolitan university publishes different semester amounts by field. It cannot be expanded into a range for every national university or every regional university.

Yonsei University semester example

Yonsei University's official undergraduate tuition page provides a 2026 tuition PDF for international undergraduates. For liberal arts, theology and social sciences, semester 1 is KRW 4,770,000 and semesters 2-8 are KRW 4,556,000. For engineering, semester 1 is KRW 6,218,000 and semesters 2-8 are KRW 6,004,000. For Integrated Technology, semester 1 is KRW 9,221,000 and semesters 2-8 are KRW 9,007,000.

Values in the official semester 1 column run from KRW 4,770,000 to KRW 9,221,000. Because first-semester and later-semester figures can differ, an annual group average should not be converted into a personal bill. Applicants should locate their own college, entry semester and pre-scholarship amount in the university table.

This is also a within-university example. It is not a minimum-to-maximum range for all private universities or all metropolitan universities.

Building a budget from averages and official notices

A useful budget places the Study in Korea annual group average on one line and the target university's official semester notice on the next. The average supports shortlisting; the notice supports payment planning.

• Institution type: confirm whether the university is national/public or private.
• Region: confirm metropolitan or non-metropolitan separately.
• Field: locate the exact humanities, science, engineering, arts or medicine unit.
• Billing point: check whether the first semester differs from later semesters.
• Scholarship: separate gross tuition from the amount and continuation rules.
• Other costs: do not mix admission, student, insurance or housing fees into tuition.

Do not call half of an annual average the actual semester tuition. A university may bill different components by semester, and the first semester can differ from later semesters.

Costs to keep separate from tuition

An admission fee, student association charge, insurance premium, dormitory payment and housing deposit do not become tuition merely because they appear near the same deadline. Keep each item on a separate budget line and preserve the university's own label. This also prevents a scholarship applied only to tuition from being mistaken for support for every living or enrollment cost.

Official source verification table

All URLs and values were checked on 2026-07-18. Official sources: Study in Korea, Yonsei University, Pusan National University.

CEO confirmation required

• Confirm that "actual range" means official group averages plus two university billing examples, not a nationwide minimum and maximum.
• Confirm that the Study in Korea annual averages remain annual figures and are not converted into semester amounts.
• Option A keeps the current separation between averages and examples. Option B removes nationwide range language from the title until a full Academy Info dataset is obtained.