The legal cap on next year's university and graduate school tuition increases has been set at 3.19%. It is 2.3 percentage points lower than this year's ceiling (5.49%). If universities do not comply with the legal cap on tuition increases, they face penalties such as reductions in enrollment quotas.
The Ministry of Education said on the 31st that it notified universities of the "method for calculating the tuition increase rate for the 2026 academic year (universities and graduate schools)."
Next year's tuition increase cap was calculated at 3.19%, which is 1.2 times the average consumer price inflation rate (2.66%) for the previous three years (2023–2025). For this year's consumer price inflation rate, the year-over-year increase from January through November was applied.
Through this year, the legal cap on university tuition increases allowed up to 1.5 times the average consumer price inflation rate over the previous three years, but an amendment to the Higher Education Act in July lowered it to 1.2 times starting next year. The legal tuition increase caps are ▲2022: 1.65% ▲2023: 4.05% ▲2024: 5.64% ▲2025: 5.49% ▲2026: 3.19%.
A large number of universities are likely to move to raise tuition next year. Universities say their finances have deteriorated after freezing tuition for an extended period. In a recent survey by the Korea Association of Private University Presidents (KPU Presidents' Council), a consultative body of four-year private universities, of presidents at 151 member schools, 52.9% of respondents said they "plan to raise tuition next year."