There are criticisms that the government and the National Assembly did not properly grasp the project when they cut the budget for the customized national scholarship program during the second supplementary budget after increasing it during the first supplementary budget.
According to the government and the National Assembly on the 30th, the budget for the customized national scholarship program, which was 5.305 trillion won this year, was increased by 115.7 billion won in the first supplementary budget (essential supplementary budget). Specifically, the increased scholarships were the type 1 scholarship (79.6 billion won) and the multi-child type (36.1 billion won). The government initially did not include the project in the supplementary budget, but the National Assembly reflected the increase citing that "the burden on households has increased due to rising tuition fees."
Following this, the Ministry of Education announced at the end of last month that "funds for scholarship increases have been secured through the supplementary budget," adding that "from the second semester, the type 1 national scholarship and multi-child type scholarship (income brackets 1 to 8) will increase by 200,000 to 400,000 won annually."
However, in the second supplementary budget proposal, this budget was actually cut even more significantly. According to the 'Status of expenditure restructuring for the 2025 second supplementary budget proposal,' the customized national scholarship ranked fourth (440 billion won) among expenditure restructuring projects.
The details of the cuts are ▲ 141.4 billion won from type 1 scholarships ▲ 130 billion won from type 2 ▲ 58.6 billion won from multi-child scholarships ▲ 100 billion won from work-study scholarships ▲ 10 billion won from housing stability scholarships. This level is significantly higher than the budget increased in the first supplementary budget. As a result, the budget for this year's customized national scholarship program is 4.9807 trillion won, which is actually lower than the initial main budget of 5.305 trillion won.
The government has come under criticism for misjudging demand during the main budget preparation, while the National Assembly cannot escape criticism for increasing unnecessary budgets at the expense of other urgent budgets.
Woo Seok-jin, a professor of economics at Myongji University, pointed out, "The problem is that it was not a project that needed an increase in the first place, but it was increased in the supplementary budget," and added, "It is regrettable that in a situation where economic conditions are not good, funds could not be allocated for other urgent issues because of this project."
Kim Kyung-ho, head of the budget analysis office at the National Assembly Budget Office, also noted, "1.7 times the amount that was increased for scholarships (type 1 and multi-child) through the first supplementary budget was restructured," and pointed out that "there was a lack of careful consideration of the feasibility of execution from the stage of preparing the main budget."
In response, a Ministry of Education official explained, "There may have been some flexibility in preparing the main budget because expansion of scholarship support was scheduled for this year," and added, "At the time of the first supplementary budget, it was difficult to gauge the need for the budget since the first semester scholarship application data had not yet been aggregated." They further stated, "We will accurately estimate and prepare next year's budget, considering the expansion of scholarship support and rising tuition fees."
Meanwhile, the project that has become the target of large-scale expenditure restructuring due to failure in demand forecasting is not just the customized national scholarship program. The Ministry of Environment's zero-emission vehicle supply project has also come under criticism for misjudging demand since the stage of preparing the main budget. This project provides subsidies for purchasing electric and hydrogen vehicles, but faces delays in budget execution due to decreased demand for electric and hydrogen vehicles and insufficient related infrastructure such as charging stations.
The unspent amounts for the zero-emission vehicle supply project have increased each year: 112 billion won in 2021, 438.5 billion won in 2022, 656.3 billion won in 2023, and 798.2 billion won in 2024. However, the main budget for this year has been set at 2.2631 trillion won, similar to last year's (2.3193 trillion won). This budget has been cut by 467.3 billion won in the current restructuring, bringing the total budget down to 1.7959 trillion won.
The Ministry of Environment plans to find the causes of poor execution and prepare improvement measures for expanding the supply of environmentally friendly vehicles. A Ministry of Environment official stated, "We adjusted expenditures in advance, as it seems that the unspent amount for this year's zero-emission vehicle supply project will be large," and added, "We will devise measures to revitalize supply, ensuring it does not impact next year's main budget."