Residential area near KHU Seoul Campus

The average monthly rent for one-room apartments near Seoul’s 10 major university districts has risen to 620,000 won, while average maintenance fees have reached 82,000 won. Both figures are the highest recorded since 2019. 

For students already struggling with rising food and transportation costs, housing expenses are the largest source of financial pressure. “Home” is becoming a growing source of economic stress and a broader issue across university communities.

Rising Rent and Maintenance Fees Near Campus

According to housing platform Dabang, rents near major universities rose sharply over the past year. Monthly rent rose by 18.1% near Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), 11.3% near Hanyang University (HYU), and 6.2% near Yonsei University, while rents near Kyung Hee University (KHU) remained unchanged from last year.

The problem is that students’ part-time earnings can no longer keep up. A 2026 survey by Alba Heaven found that 78.8% of university students planned to work part-time jobs to cover living expenses. Most respondents hoped to work between 10 and 15 hours per week. Based on the 2026 minimum wage, this would amount to roughly 620,000 won per month. After paying average rent in Seoul’s university districts, many students are left struggling to even afford maintenance fees, let alone food or transportation costs.

At the same time, maintenance fees are rising even faster than rent itself, adding another layer of pressure. Near Chung-Ang University, maintenance fees increased by 21.4%, while areas near SKKU (13.6%) and KHU (6.4%) also recorded steep increases. According to the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, tenants in detached or multi-family housing pay maintenance fees 10.7 times higher than homeowners.

Critics argue some landlords use maintenance fees as an indirect way to raise the total costs. Under Korea’s rent-cap rules, rent increases are generally limited to five percent, leading some landlords to raise maintenance fees to bypass that limit. 

Actual listings on Dabang reveal this reality clearly. In one building near Hoegi Station, two one-room apartments with the same floor area had different fee structures. The unit with lower rent charged a maintenance fee of 80,000 won, while the unit with higher rent required only 50,000 won. In effect, maintenance fees are functioning as a “second rent.” Under the current law, small residential buildings with fewer than 50 households are not required to disclose detailed maintenance fee information, making these costs even less transparent for students.

How Housing Costs Are Reshaping Student Life

The housing crisis around universities is affecting more than just students’ finances. It is also reducing their quality of life, influencing everything from eating habits to social activities and personal relationships.

Park Su-min, a student at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, has spent more than three hours commuting each day for the past four years because she cannot afford housing near campus. “Traffic congestion and multiple transfers leave me physically exhausted,” she said, adding that public transportation limits often prevent her from fully participating in campus activities or social relationships.

As financial pressure grows, more students are being pushed into shared housing arrangements. Park added, “I considered finding a roommate or moving into a shared house to reduce housing costs, but it was difficult to find a place with suitable living conditions and someone I could get along with. In the end, I gave up on the idea.”

Oh Se-jun, a professor in the Dept. of Urban Planning and Real Estate at Pyeongtaek University, warned that housing instability can have serious psychological effects on young people. “When housing costs become overwhelming, students spend more energy trying to survive than focusing on studying or personal growth,” Oh explained. “Without a stable place to live, young people become trapped in short-term survival rather than long-term planning. In the long run, this can lead to broader social problems such as lower labor mobility and declining birth rates.”

Do Housing Policies Match What Students Actually Need?

In response to the growing crisis, the government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government have introduced several housing support programs for university students, including deposit loan support, special rent assistance, and public rental housing projects. However, there are concerns that these policies can be hard to access where student need is highest. 

Go Min-jae, a student at HYU, said, “In popular areas near universities, demand far exceeds supply, making it extremely difficult for students to actually benefit from housing support programs.” She also pointed out that high security deposits, complex applications, and strict eligibility rules often make the programs difficult to access. 

Prof. Oh described this issue as a “location mismatch.” Housing may be supplied but the value drops if it is too far from campus. Still, Oh emphasized that location is not the only issue. Maintenance fees are also driving up students’ real housing costs. 

He called for stronger government rules to prevent unfair fee increases and clearer disclosure rules so maintenance fees don’t become a hidden or second rent. He added that the government should manage the market based on total housing costs, including maintenance fees, rather than focusing only on monthly rent.

Oh also urged universities to play a more active role. “Universities should go beyond simply posting policy notices online and become information centers that provide housing counseling services and guidance on standard rental contracts,” he said. 

A Place to Live, Not Just Survive

The housing crisis around universities is no longer a  personal issue. It is becoming a broader threat to the quality of university life. To ease this burden, policymakers and universities need to clear cost structures and housing support that better reflects students’ real needs. With such changes, university neighborhoods may become places where young people build stable futures rather than simply struggle to survive.