The CBNU Residence Halls: Gae Seong Jae, Yang Seong Jae and Yang Jin Jae(from left to right)


  The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on August 30th that its Adhesion Contract Division inspected 17 national and private university dormitories’ adhesion contracts and demanded them to rectify the unfair clauses. In the case of the CBNU Residence Halls, the clauses of no refund for mid-contract termination were pointed out by the KFTC, so the CBNU Residence Halls rectified the related clauses.
  The clauses the CBNU Residence Halls rectified were 2 items in paragraph 3 of Article 21 of the Dormitory Student Rules. One of the two items, ‘Only the course dropouts from the Korean language course will have a full remaining days’ fee refund; or else only food expenses will be refunded,’ has been deleted. The other item, ‘If a student requests a refund after 3/4 of school days, there will be no refund for the remaining days,’ has been rectified to ‘Within 15 days before the date of moving-out, there will be no refund.’
  The person in charge of this rectification, Kim Hyeon-woo(the KFTC’s deputy director), said, “The KFTC deemed ‘only dropouts of the foreign student program can have a remaining days’ fee refund’ improper during its investigation.” She added, “The rule, ‘those foreign students who are evicted from the dormitory unavoidably for other reasons cannot have a refund for the remaining days,’ imposes an excessive penalty on them. Therefore, the related item has been deleted and the same rule that was applied to Korean students is now applied to foreign students as well.”
  The CBNU Residence Halls’ superintendent, Lee Bo-ram, mentioned the burden of empty rooms. “We accepted the KFTC’s examination result and extended the boarding fee’s refundable date as much as we could. However, it is hard to fill the vacant rooms again with other students when dormitory dwellers are evicted at mid-semester.” Moreover, if this problem persists, the boarding fee would increase, so it can also be a burden to students.
  For this rectification, foreign exchange student Ma Li-ya(’16, Division of Autonomous Majors), who lives in the CBNU Residence Halls, said, “It was a difficult part for the foreign exchange students who lack money. I think this rectification is such a good thing for foreign exchange students.” A student, Seok Eun-yeong(’16, Dept. of Economics), who lives in the CBNU Residence Halls, said, “Reducing 30 days to 15 days is a good thing. I think the rights of those students who might move out compulsorily because of penalty points will be guaranteed.”
  This rectification was done by the CBNU Residence Halls spontaneously after the problems were pointed out by the KFTC. It is expected that the current concerns will be solved as the persons concerned with the CBNU Residence Halls are making an effort for the students’ satisfaction. The KFTC’s deputy director, Kim Hyun-woo, said about this rectification, “University dormitories should not just take money from students. They should have fairness for both sides, and most of all, it should be a dormitory for students for sure.”

By Min Tae-kwan
tk36@cbnu.ac.kr