A majority of universities still frown upon students using credit cards to pay for their tuition due to high handling fees.  This is still true even though the government has recently passed legislation that will allow college students to pay tuition with their credit cards.    

Based on information for the credit card industry, forty-eight colleges nationwide currently allow their students to pay for tuition using their credit cards.  Nineteen additional colleges are expected to follow later this year.   

Several credit cards are accepted including ones issued by Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hyundai, and Samsung.  BC Card ranked first in acceptance among colleges, while Samsung ranked second.   

However, the number of universities that accepts credit cards for tuition still only accounts for less than twelve percent of the 411 colleges in the country.  Last December, the government had introduced an initiative to encourage more colleges to accept credit cards as payment to allow students more options in funding their education.  Unfortunately, widespread acceptance is still hindered by the high handling fee of 1.5 percent that is collected from colleges.  Based on the average tuition for college students in Korea, the handling fees can cost the schools several hundred million won each year.   

Many critics feels the colleges are not trying hard enough to bargain for lower handling fees.  A representative for a nonprofit organization dealing with rising tuition prices, Ahn Jingeol coomented, "Universities such as Yonsei University have successfully struck deals with card firms to pay little, if any, of the handling fees." 

YMCA Seoul added that, "High handling fees are not a viable defense as colleges often receive large donations from their main creditor banks."