Foreigners are not getting their money back from Korean universities they didn't attend

Some universities and vocational schools are slow in refunding tuition to visa-denied foreigners who can't study in Korea, with some refunds taking over a year. With many foreigners living abroad during their application process, many have no ...

International students attend the study in Korea education fair [SONG BONG-KEUN]

Some universities and vocational schools are slow in refunding tuition to visa-denied foreigners who can't study in Korea, with some refunds taking over a year.

With many foreigners living abroad during their application process, many have no choice but to just wait until they get their money back.

According to the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, 55 Vietnamese students applied to an art school in Jeonju, North Jeolla, between March and June last year. All of the students paid a semester's worth of tuition of 4.47 million won ($3,390), as the school needs to submit a certification of tuition payment to the Ministry of Justice for the prospective students' D-4-1 language trainee visa applications.

Apart from the 24 who got their visas and enrolled in the university, the remaining 31 either got their visas denied or gave up on studying abroad.

The university promised to refund those students, but 10 students had to wait until late July to get their money back.

"The students kept asking to get their money back, but the university didn't do anything," said Huong Bao Anh, head of the study abroad agency that helped the students apply to the school. "There's a lot of cases where I had to pay their tuition back with my own money until the university formally made a refund."

The tuition at Korean universities isn't cheap for students in Vietnam.

According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, the average salary of Vietnamese workers was 6.7 million dong, or around 370,000 won, in 2022.

An average worker in Vietnam would have to save up a year's worth of salary for a semester's tuition in Korea.

"It is true that we didn't refund the money for a long time to the 10 students," the art school's spokesperson said. "We have finished refunding all the money as of August 1, and we are very sorry for those who faced difficulties due to delayed refunds."

Another art school official, who was granted anonymity, told the JoongAng Ilbo that delayed refunds tend to happen because "private universities outside of Seoul frequently face financial difficulties and foundations that back them changing often."

This is one of many cases where schools have been slow with refunds.

Dao Hai Ngoc, a 32-year-old who used to teach Japanese in Hanoi, paid 4 million won as tuition to a vocational university in Seoul in January last year. Getting to know the school through a local study abroad agency in Vietnam, she hoped to study in Korea to learn cosmetology.

Tuition was expensive, and she even got a loan.

A building used by the vocational school that Dao Hai Ngoc applied to [LEE YOUNG-KEUN]

Ngoc said the university didn't provide any answer about her visa or admission results even after spring passed. When Ngoc requested a refund, the university said it will do so. However, 19 months have passed, and she still hasn't gotten her refund.

"My monthly wage is around 430,000 won when converted to Korean won," said Ngoc. "Right now, I'm paying around 160,000 won a month as interest, and I can't trust both the university and Korea at this point."

The university Ngoc applied to offers vocational training, with majors such as police studies, social work and cosmetology. Applicants to the school need to apply for a D-4-6 visa before entering Korea.

The university policy states that it needs to refund tuition within two months if students who failed to get a visa ask to get their money back.

Despite the policy, 23 students, including Ngoc, couldn't get a refund that year.

With universities taking a long time to make refunds, some students are coming to Korea to ask for their money.

Nguyen Thi Thuy, a 30-year-old Vietnamese, visited Korea for her cousin, who also hasn't been able to get a tuition refund. Being fluent in Korean, she visited the university in December and March to request a refund.

"The university said it will make a refund when I first visited them, but they wouldn't even meet me when I visited the second time," said Thuy.

Thuy has the Korean proficiency and capability to come to Korea, but others who don't are left hopeless.

"Because it's a civil case, it is difficult for the government to order the universities to refund the tuition," a Ministry of Employment and Labor spokesperson said. "But we are instructing institutions that have problems with tuition refunds to do so."

Some agencies are preparing to file a lawsuit.

"We visited the university multiple times between December last year and June, but we couldn't get refunds," said Bui Van Vo, head of the ATM study abroad agency in Vietnam. "We were also given nothing when we asked for refund documents, and we plan on filing a lawsuit."

Regarding the possible suit, the university says that refunds take some time.

"The university is going through its refund process," the university's spokesperson said. "If there is a problem with what we do, then people can either report it to the police or file a lawsuit if they wish."

BY LEE YOUNG-KEUN [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]