Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

09-22-2008 18:04
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/09/117_31432.html

'Appropriate' Hagwon Fees to Be Available Online From Dec.

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

Parents will be able to check if fees at hagwon or private cram schools are reasonable through the Internet as early as December.

Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Monday it will run a pilot system to calculate appropriate fees in three major areas in Seoul from the end of September. After the test run, it will distribute the system to all regional offices and make the data public through the Internet.

``The system will help us better regulate high fees at hakwon,'' an official from SMOE said. ``We are now considering shutting down hagwon that seriously overcharge students, based on the calculation of tuition fees using the system.''

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology developed the system as part of a project to calculate reasonable tuition fees using data on teacher's salaries, revenue and other key expenditures.

It will apply the system to 54,723 schools nationwide after the test. Each region's education office can monitor fee changes through the system, the official said.

It system will be run tentatively to monitor fees in Seocho, Gangnam-gu; Mokdong, Yangcheon-gu; and Junggye-dong, Nowon-gu through November. Once this is completed, the ministry will distribute the system to other regions through the National Education Information System from which parents can easily access information.

[email protected]

[Joe Boxer]

[Kimchieluver]

How can they quantify the value of the teachers?

[Juregen]

There is already such a thing in effect. But I have it from some sources that to impose prices is not allowed.

I am going to look into this ....

Don't forget that if they put a ceiling on prices, they will just put more students in smaller classrooms .....

Let the market be free and set its own prices ...

[BigBuds]

With the current prices the education department has set for hagwons, hagwons would need to have about 30 students in each class to stay afloat.

They would barely be able to afford Korean teachers salaries let alone foreign teachers salaries.

[hari seldon]

This is asinine. If the ministry doesn't permit the market to set the fees then how are hagwon owners supposed to deal with the rising costs?

Schools compete against one another for students. In most communities there are many schools and the competition is cutthroat. There's no need to suggest or control tuition prices. Supply and demand will set appropriate prices.

If the government is worried about low income families affording hagwon fees, then they should provide assistance in the form of cash vouchers or tax breaks, not try to pretend that they are smarter than the market. They aren't. The information in their report will be outdated the day it's issued.

[jdog2050]

[SHANE02]

So...you guys think Hakwons report the true figures of students they have and tuition charged to govt. departments?