Cost of Studying in Korea 2026: Tuition, Rent, Budget
21 Jan 2026, 00:00 Z
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Q: How do I build a realistic Korea budget without relying on “someone on TikTok said…”?
A: Start with Korea’s official Study in Korea cost pages, then replace “average” numbers with your university’s actual tuition and your housing plan. Your goal isn’t a perfect spreadsheet - it’s to avoid predictable budget shocks (deposits, insurance, one-time fees, and timing).
TL;DR (fast route) - Tuition + study expense baseline (official): https://www.studyinkorea.go.kr/en/plan/abroadExpenses.do - Monthly living expense baseline (official): https://www.studyinkorea.go.kr/en/life/livingExpense.do - If you want a Japan vs Korea parent-friendly checklist too: https://eclatinstitute.sg/blog/scholarships/Japan-vs-Korea-Student-Budget-Singapore-Practical-Cost-Checklist-Guide-2026
Status: Last reviewed 2026-01-21. Figures on official pages can change; treat ranges as a planning baseline and always verify current tuition on your target university page.
1) What the official pages are good for (and what they can’t do)
The Study in Korea portal is useful because it gives a government-run baseline for:
- tuition/study expense context, and
- “typical” monthly living expense categories.
But it can’t tell you the two numbers that matter most:
- your university’s actual tuition and fees, and
- your housing reality (dorm vs off-campus, deposits, roommates, location).
So the right workflow is:
- use official pages for the baseline, then replace averages with your actual plan.
2) Step-by-step: use the official “Abroad Expenses” page
Open: https://www.studyinkorea.go.kr/en/plan/abroadExpenses.do
Use it for two jobs:
A) Get a baseline that’s more reliable than hearsay
The page explains that tuition can vary significantly and highlights differences between types of institutions.
Treat it as a “ballpark sanity check”, not a final quote.
B) Turn it into your own “first-year cost” sheet
Write down (as bullets):
