Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Patrick Hanley]

Hi guys,

I am writing a thesis about education in Korea and I am looking for information on how much it cost to set up a private school there; from hiring a teacher in Korea to everyday running cost. I am looking for the normal costs i.e. salary etc. and also the hidden cost i.e. cost of visa etc. The thesis is about the cost of education in Korea and how big a business is it. If anyone on here has information/contacts in relation to getting this info that would be greatly appreciated.

[ttompatz]

[Old Painless]

It only cost me 12 dollars in 1974!

[Troglodyte]

As Ttompatz said, visas cost nothing (or practically nothing). You can figure out the range of salaries from the job ads. Accommodation for a foreign teacher will vary a lot and is based on a lot of factors, not least of which is location, but you can get an idea by checking out the ads on rental agency sites or classified ads. The rest of the costs will also vary a LOT. First of all, you'll probably need some classrooms. You could buy or rent a place. Cost will depend on where, how many classrooms, what type of building. You can also rent individual classrooms on an hourly basis. Or maybe you'll send teachers to teach at the clients home or office (in which case you don't need to rent space). Equipment could be simply books and a white board or it could be a whole range of special equipment. It varies a lot. You might hire a secretary (or a few part-timers) or you might do that yourself. You might pay franchise fees to become part of a franchise or you might not. You might have a lot of teachers (foreign and local) or you might have only a few. In some cases, you could start a "school" for a hundred dollars.

Maybe if you explain a little more about what information you need or how you're going to use it, people might be able to supply you with more useful information.

[alongway]

Hagwons can be very different sizes.

24 rooms is pretty large for a hagwon, they can also be smaller. There is a minimum size to be legally considered a hagwon, and schools smaller than that operate like hagwons but aren't legally called that.

The cost of a native speaker has lots of things like:
Base salary (2.2*12)
severance (2.2)
pension & medical (.2*12)
recruiter fee (1)
airfare (2)
housing (.5*12)

Personally I find 40 million to be on the low side by the time you add that all up. Unless you live out in the country and can get very cheap housing.

in terms of setting one up, it all depends on size. There is probably a ballpark figure you can get somewhere for a general cost per student/room/square meter or something like that on what it might cost to run a typical hagwon, but it varies a lot. There are certainly lots of smaller schools in Korea than run on shoestring budgets. There aren't a lot of hidden costs with running this kind of thing, they're all pretty obvious. Staff, materials, bus service if you're running one for younger kids, utilities, advertising, remodelling if you do when you take over the space,