In comparison with other universities, Ewha"s scholarship system is more standardized and transparent, but it provides smaller amounts of money for individual scholarships. For example, national universities, such as Seoul National University, provides full scholarships for selected students with GPAs over 3.60. And at private universities such as Korea University, each department chooses students who have the highest GPAs in their respective majors for scholarships. The criteria at those universities are different from the Ewha?.
Ewha provides two thirds of the tuition fee as scholarships for students with GPAs over 4.00, and 700,000 won scholarships for students with GPAs over 3.75.
Kim Yong-shim of the Student Welfare Center says, "This semester, about 500 undergraduate students had GPAs over 4.00 and received scholarships. The number represents about three percent of the total student population. Including the students with GPAs over 3.75, about ten percent of the total number of students receive scholarships each semester. Since the school uses the grade curve system, the number of students receiving scholarships is about the same.
However, when compared to other universities, Ewha provides a smaller amount of money through scholarships. While Seoul National University and Hanyang University offer full scholarships for the students who have the top GPA in each department, Ewha provides full scholarships only for the students who have the highest GPA in each college. Every semester, only about 15 students, which is only 0.1 percent of 15,000 total students, receive full scholarships at Ewha.
Lee Nan-hee of Scholarship Welfare Center says, "Iwould say that Ewha"s current scholarship system is quite fair because the Scholarship Welfare Center manages the whole system, ensuring a clear standard, unlike the practice at other schools.
Based on Lee"s explanation, Ewha provides various scholarships to many students in different situations. There are more than 20 different types of scholarships, including scholarships given to newly registered students. Universities such as Yonsei offer only about ten different types of scholarships at the moment. At Ewha, most scholarships are for students with financial difficulties. However, the amount of money the school provides in this case is not as high as one could expect. An Ewhaian who had received a scholarship for daughters of missionaries says, "I got 1,000,000 won from the school but I still had to come up with another 1,500,000 won.
Kim Bo-ram remarks reflect what many students here at Ewha feel an adequate scholarship policy should address: "The university"s scholarship policy seems to provide less money for many students. However, what students need is more substantial assistance with the high tuition fees. If the school remains satisfied with taking credit for supporting a large number of students, this will be disappointing to many who really need help.