Keimyung University increased tuition fees by 6.4% in 2007. The university and student representatives negotiated 12 times from January 16 to 30 before finally agreeing on that amount.
First, the university suggested raising tuition fees by 9.8% due to the remodeling of lobbies, administrative offices, and classrooms; the recruiting of staff and professors; the building of the International Garden; and the increasing price of ordinary commodities. Student representatives didn`t accept those reasons and after days of wrangling the university and student representatives reached an agreement to increase tuition fees by 6.4%.
According to student representatives, Keimyung University agreed to use 0.3% of the increase for student welfare. The General Students' Association (GSA) will use that 0.3% for students and will make the expenditure breakdown available to the public. The GSA have put up conference records on their temporary homepage athttp://www.kmu.ba.ro.
A university official, Kwon Op Prof. from the Department of Business Administration, said, "When we set tuition fees we consider government assistance, the commodity increasing rate, tuition fees of other universities, and other things. In fact our university's enrollment fee increase is not higher than other universities in our region. But it's so sad that the university must increase tuition fees every year."
Other universities in our region increased their tuition fees by the following amounts: Kyungpook National University 9.8% (freshman 13.7%); Catholic University of Daegu 9.8%; Daegu University 6.9%; and Yeungnam University 6.8% (freshman 7%). In the case of Daegu University, student representatives will negotiate after paying tuition fees. If tuition fees are decreased, the students will get refunds. Yeungnam University students have postponed paying fees in an effort to decrease tuition fees.