Seoul has received more than 100 complaints from foreign students regarding delays in tuition refunds over the past five years, data showed Wednesday.
A total of 115 civil complaints were filed with either the e-People portal or the Education Ministry related to tuition refunds for international students who planned to study in South Korea, according to government estimates compiled by People Power Party Rep. Jung Sung-kook's office.
Among them, 25 came through the e-People portal, a state-run web portal that collects people's complaints and relays them to related government agencies.
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, which runs the online portal, estimated that 13 complaints were registered from January to August this year. For the remaining 12, one complaint was filed via its portal in 2022, six in 2023, two in 2024 and three in 2025.
The ACRC based its estimate on its pangovernmental Civil Complaint Analysis System. The commission did not disclose further details about the civil complaints via the e-People portal, such as which colleges were involved or whether the complaints had been processed.
Separately, the Education Ministry directly received 90 civil complaints from foreign students this year. The complaints involved refund delays at either Singyeongju University in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, or Woongji Accounting and Tax College in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
According to the Education Ministry, some 400 foreign students at Singyeongju University faced refund delays, with their combined tuition totaling 2.8 billion won ($2.07 million). Also, 170 international students from Woongji College had their refund of some 900 million won delayed.
The Education Ministry said its analysis of past civil complaints before 2026 was unavailable.
According to Jung's office, the estimates may include repeated complaints.
Given growing global interest in South Korean culture and the rise of international students, the lawmaker said refund delays were unacceptable.
"Foreign students who came to South Korea with a dream about life here are not just mere consumers, but are precious assets who could spread our culture and trustworthiness of this country," Jung told The Korea Herald.
Under the Education Ministry's rule, tuition fees shall be refunded to foreign students without delay if prospective students had visas denied or unavoidable circumstances prevented admission.
"Such practices are more than just an infringement on individuals' property rights. The world's trust toward South Korea’s higher education system ... could be eroded."
Jung called for clearer legal standards, tougher enforcement mechanisms and stronger measures to protect foreign students.
Setting up an arbitration panel under the Ministry of Education to settle disputes between students and universities or strengthening indemnity insurance could also be key, according to the lawmaker.
"The current system relies on the universities' spontaneous cooperation, and the Ministry of Education lacks an enforcement mechanism to either compel the universities to make refunds or take administrative measures against the universities," Jung said.
He added that the government's current framework, under which universities with poor performance in handling foreign students are screened out through the annual International Education Quality Assurance System, "presents a clear hurdle" in preventing a refund delay.
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