Do you know about the State Scholarship? In 2012, the Korean Government began this policy for university students who are worried about the expense of college tuition. The Korea Student Aid Foundation, which manages the State Scholarship, manages the nine scholarship systems for various cases of students. All of the scholarship systems contain the Grade Standard. Most of the university students apply for the type, State ScholarshipⅠorⅡ. State ScholarshipⅠorⅡ is the policy that divides the income of the students’ parents into lower ranked 8 levels, and the foundation offers them to the different students following the standard. It also has the Grade Standard. In case of freshmen, there is no grade standard, but the enrolled students basically must earn more than 12 grades and get more than 80 points out of 100 points (2.6 points out of 4.5 points). These days, it is an issue whether the standard is reasonable or unreasonable. The Sookmyung Times asked SMU students what they think about the Grade Standard.
- Debate Topic -
The Grade Standard of the State Scholarship Should be Abolished.
pro
Kim Soyoung /
Division of Business Administration ’13
Recently, Korea is providing state scholarships to reduce the burden of education expenses of students who are living in hard family circumstances. There is a criteria applied to the state scholarships provided, and conflicting opinions about this are making considerable friction. My opinion about the criteria is that it is inappropriate to be a fixed one.
First of all, there is a problem with the explicit standards. To be a beneficiary of state scholarships, one’s score has to be higher than 80 out of 100 points. However, most students don’t know if their scores satisfy the criteria because each university has their own score calculation system, and it causes confusion for students in confirming their scores.
The second reason is in the essential aspect. Every beneficiary of state scholarships has their own economical circumstances, and definitely among them, students who need desperate supports of the state. However, scores of students are working to maintain their living. Usually they study and work at the same time, and it could be impossible to devote themselves to only studying depending on the idea that they could get state scholarships. Moreover, there are clearly many students applying for a leave for absence because of the burden of education expenses. However, they couldn’t be the beneficiaries. If someone is selected as a beneficiary, that person must be attending school.
Since it is hard to do study and work at the same time, and students who are taking time off from school can be beneficiaries easily, the criteria of scores required to get state scholarships is inappropriate. While I empathize with the original intention of state scholarships, solutions such as the criteria of scores abolition only for low-income groups should be discussed seriously. Also, for better understanding, detailed and concrete explanations about the criteria should be added.
con
Yoo Mina /
Departments of Culture & Tourism ’13
In order to reduce the burden of undergraduate tuition, the Government of the Republic of Korea is providing state scholarships from 2012. The Government has implemented a total of nine scholarships to students, so that they could benefit from a variety of scholarships. Most of college students are supported by State ScholarshipⅠorⅡ. It State Scholarship is a good system that can help students practically. However, State Scholarship has been a controversial issue because it has several problems.
Despite the fact that the scholarship is determined by income, I think the government should apply some standards of scores when they give state scholarships. It doesn’t mean high scores which college scholarships require. It means the minimum standard that anyone can achieve if they study hard and attend diligently. By definition, scholarship is the aid for a student who is hard to study because of economic problems. State scholarships are scholarships after all, so they must have some standards of scores.
One’s score has to be higher than 80 out of 100 points to be a beneficiary of state scholarships now, however this criterion has become a problem because it is unclear. The government and universities should fix an accurate standard together and fully explain it to university students. In the beginning, government carried out State Scholarships to help and aid students. They must manage the system properly to achieve their original purpose.
In addition, I think the most important criteria of the state scholarship is attendance. Attendance status is the most simple and reliable criteria that can evaluate one’s integrity. Based on the national scholarship currently being enforced, attendance status is not included, however. Attendance status is only partially reflected in the results. I think that a student who is living in a bad situation but studying hard should receive the state scholarship by including attendance status in the criteria.
