The Korean Journal of Economic Studies
University Entrance Competition and Private Tutoring: The Effects of Public Education Enhancement an
Bongje Choi(Cheongju University), Young-Jun Chun(Hanyang University), Jin-Yeong Kim(Konkuk University)Year 2016Vol. 64No. 2
Abstract
This study theoretically analyzes the households’ choice regarding child’suniversity attendance jointly with household consumption and private tutoringunder borrowing constraint where the households are differentiated by parentalincome and child ability. Due to the enrollment limit, the entrance into thehigh-quality university entails an intense competition. This may incur the costof private tutoring that leads to the overrepresence of children from richfamilies in high-quality university attendance. By reinforcing public educationor providing more education subsidy to households, the government canmitigate wealth bias. However, its effect is limited in reducing the inequalityof educational opportunity without tuition control. With tuition control,however, both policies are effective in improving equality of educationalopportunity. Especially, providing more education subsidy is more effectivethan reinforcing public education.