대학 재정여건이 재정지표에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

Abstract

Since 2011, the Ministry of Education has implemented a new policy to freeze the tuition fees across the public and private universities in Korea, responding to the social issue of "half-price tuition." Especially, private universities were hit hard by this new policy, leading to their severe financial difficulties, high dependence on tuition, and poor financial health. To make matters worse, low fertility rates become another blow to private colleges' financial solvency. The research objective of this dissertation is to investigate the impact of financial soundness on financial indicators focusing on private university cases in Korea. We used multiple regression analysis to achieve the research objective. The findings are summarized as follows: First, the effect of school reserves on financial indicators showed that the increase in the fund accumulation rate, which is a category of school reserves, had a positive (+) change in the educational and labor costs per student which is a financial index category. Negative (-) changes were found in the ratio of research student expenses. In addition, it was found that the increase in the ratio of corporate deposits in the school reserves had a positive (+) change in the education, labor, and management operation expenses ratio per student in the financial index category. The ratio of research student expenses was revealed to have a negative (-) change. However, it was found that the ratio of management operation costs did not have any effect. Second, the effect of financial soundness on financial indicators showed that the increase in tuition dependence, which is the financial soundness item, had a negative (-) change in the education, labor, and management operation expense ratio per student. However, the increase in the debt ratio of the financial soundness item did not affect the educational expenses per student, the ratio of research student expenses, management operation expenses. Third, there were significant differences in the degree to which financial conditions influenced changes in financial indicators depending on the university location. In the tuition dependence rate, the ratio of research student expenditure was influential, and universities in non-metropolitan areas were more influential. This shows that non-metropolitan universities should increase educational investment. It is expected that non-metropolitan universities will proceed faster than the metropolitan area in the face of worsening finances of private universities. The increase in the rate of transfer to corporations affects the ratio of research student expenses, and the universities located in non-metropolitan areas have higher influence than those in metropolitan areas. This indicates that universities located in non-metropolitan areas are using the revenue from the industry-academic cooperation group transfer income or school corporation transfer funds as educational expenses. In order to increase financial and educational quality of private universities, it is necessary to increase the transfer money to universities through the activation of corporations and industry-academic cooperation groups. The ratio of tuition dependence and corporate transfer fees showed that it affected the ratio of management and operation costs, and that it affected private universities in non-capital areas more than those in the metropolitan area. This suggests that universities in non-metropolitan areas will be directly affected by the management and operation of universities as they rely heavily on tuition fees and corporate transfers. Fourth, depending on the size of students, the influence of financial condition factors on changes in financial indicators was found to be partially different. The increase in tuition dependence had an impact on the ratio of education and labor per student, meaning that it had a higher impact on more than 10,000 people. The ratio of labor costs to corporations and the dependence on tuition fees influenced the ratio of labor. In other words, it had a higher impact on more than 10,000 people. Increasing the transfer rate of corporations had an impact on the ratio of research student expenses, and management operation expenses. More than 10,000 people showed a higher impact. The increase of fund accumulation rate was found to affect the management operation expenses ratio. More changes occurred in private colleges with over 10,000 students than private colleges with less than 10,000 students. In short, the number of students is very important for the stale revenue flow for the private universities. Reductions in tuition income have become a reality due to reduced capacity and lower fertility rates. Most private universities have not sought to diversify their sources of revenues, but the degree of tuition bias is still high, making college finances worse. As part of a method to overcome financial difficulties under harsh reality, it is necessary to secure income resources other than tuition. Recognizing these facts, private universities should contribute to the survival and educational development of universities by establishing precise plans and ways to secure financial resources by their restructuring and long-term development plans.

Key Words: School corporations, Private universities, Financial soundness, Management operation cost