A photo of a law school in South Korea. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Close to half of all law school students in South Korea were found to be high-income earners. In some law schools, the proportion of high-income students exceeded 70 percent.
According to data from the Korea Student Aid Foundation regarding the income status of law school students for the 2022-2023 period, 44 percent (2,784 students) of students at the nation’s 25 law schools fell into the 9th or 10th income brackets or were categorized as high-income earners who did not apply for scholarships. This figure marks a 1.8 percentage point increase from the 42.2 percent reported last year.
The 9th income bracket refers to individuals with a monthly recognized income of approximately 10.8 million won, while the 10th income bracket includes those with a monthly recognized income exceeding 16.2 million won. Monthly recognized income is calculated by converting the sum of income and property into income. Students who do not apply for scholarships are presumed to have abstained from doing so due to their ability to cover tuition fees.
The share of high-income earners among law school students was higher at metropolitan law schools compared to regional law schools and at private universities compared to national universities. At law schools located in the greater Seoul area, the share of high-income earners stood at 28.9 percent this year, which was 13.8 percentage points higher than regional universities (15.1 percent). For law schools at private universities, the share of high-income earners among students was 25.6 percent, as opposed to 18.4 percent for those at national universities.
Among the 25 law schools, Chung Ang University had the highest share of high-income students at 72.2 percent (164 students), followed by Seoul National University at 67 percent (354 students), Konkuk University at 61.1 percent (121 students), Ewha Women’s University at 61.1 percent (220 students), and Ajou University at 59.3 percent (131 students). The national university with the lowest share of high-income earners among law school students was Jeju National University at 26.7 percent (27 students).
This year, the average annual tuition for law schools was 14.22 million won, 5.42 million won higher than that of general graduate schools, with estimated annual per capita student loans of 6.93 million won, 2.23 million won more than regular graduate students.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
