Average Incomes and Expenditures of Postechians
Average Incomes and Expenditures of Postechians
  • Reporter Yun Seok-chan
  • 승인 2015.11.04 16:03
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On Oct. 15, a survey was mailed out to all undergraduates in POSTECH to investigate their monthly incomes and expenditures, as well as their culture of consumption. Questions included how much they get and spend per month, what they think about how much they get and spend, the dominant factor for their expenditures, and how they deal with the situation when they spend beyond their monthly budget. A total of 141 Postechians ranging from freshmen to seniors participated in the survey.
As expected, the main source of Postechians’ income was their parents, with 65 (46%) answering they only get their money from parents. Forty-five students said they get their allowance from parents and still make some extra money through tutoring or part-time jobs. Eighteen students (12.8%) were economically independent, making their living by themselves.
According to the survey, the average allowance for students in POSTECH turned out to be about 570,000 KRW, with the majority of students’ allowance ranging from 400,000~600,000 KRW. The figure is above average when it comes to comparison with average allowance for university students in Korea, which is around 400,000 KRW. For those 45 individuals who make extra money, there was a question asking why they would do so. Forty-nine percent of them said they happen to overspend often, 32.7% said they want to save it for future use, and 8.2% said they can hardly get by solely on the allowance from their parents. There was also a written answer mentioning the unwillingness to ask parents for more money as a grounds for making money.
Most students (75.7%) seemed to be satisfied with how much they get or make per month. However, 16.2% answered they get too little and 8.1% answered they get more than they need. The average expenditures were calculated as 498,000 KRW, which implies that students use most of their allowance. Almost 60% of students said their expenditures are appropriate, 34.8% said they spend too much, and 6.4% said they spend too little.
The category that accounted for the biggest proportions in students’ spending was food. Nearly 83% of the students said they spend most of their money for eating. For 6.5% of students, entertainment including playing games and drinking, took the largest proportion among their budget. The remaining 4.3% spent most of their money for dating. Some written answers included buying meals for juniors and books.
There are certain periods that students need to spend more than usual, like in the beginning of the semester where students have to buy new books. The survey revealed that more than half of the students (54.3%) dealt with this kind of situation by taking away some money from their savings. About 38% told their parents about the situation and asked for more money. ‘Miscellaneous’ was selected by 8% of respondents, and written answers included not spending, reducing spending, borrowing from friends, and not eating.