Korean
Tuition exemption for 4 semesters (MS) / 10 semesters (MS-PhD Integrated) / 8 semesters (PhD)
Note that the application fee will be compensated for all admitted PhD (and integrated MS/PhD) students upon registration.
Scholarships are typically available in the form of research assistantships from individual professors (academic advisors). In addition to tuition waivers, each admitted student will receive monthly stipends to cover living costs, including housing, food, and personal expenses. The monthly stipend varies across individual programs/departments and professors, with a CoE-wide average exceeding 1,700,000 KRW. For more detailed stipend information for specific departments/programs, see below:
In the Department of Mechanical Engineering, more than 80% of the labs provide monthly salaries above 1.3 million Korean won (KRW), with an average being 1.77 million KRW.
In the Department of Aerospace Engineering, individual labs provided monthly stipends of more than 2.0 million KRW (before tax deduction) on average in the year 2022, with exact figures depending on project circumstances.
In the School of Electrical Engineering, more than 80% of the labs provide monthly financial support above 1.5 million KRW, with an average of 1.9 million KRW.
In the School of Computing, most labs pay more than 1.6 million KRW in salary, with an average exceeding 1.9 million KRW.
In the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, more than 80% of the labs provide monthly salaries above 1.3 million KRW, with an average of more than 1.66 million KRW.
In the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, international students get at least 1.1 million KRW as a monthly stipend.
In the Department of Industrial Design, 100% of the labs provide monthly salaries above 1.1 million KRW.
In the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE) and the Graduate School of Data Science (GSDS), the guaranteed minimum monthly income (including stipends and scholarships from all sources) is 1.1 million KRW for a Ph.D. student and 0.8 million for an MS student. It is important to note that the actual income often significantly exceeds the guaranteed minimum, although the exact amount can fluctuate depending on the funding situation. For instance, in the 2023 Spring semester, the actual minimum income for a Ph.D. student was 1.5 million KRW (before tax).
In the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, more than 80% of the labs provide monthly salaries above 1.4 million KRW.
In the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, more than 87.5% of the labs provide monthly salaries above 1.1 million KRW, with an average exceeding 1.4 million KRW.
In the Department of Nuclear & Quantum Engineering, individual labs provide an average monthly salary of 2 million KRW.
In Cho Chun Shik Graduate School of Mobility, Ph.D. students currently receive up to 1.8 million KRW.
In the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI, Ph.D. students are paid an average monthly salary of 2.3 million KRW.
KAIST CoE PhD Fellowships are also available beginning with applicants for the 2024 academic term. Highly qualified candidates with exceptional GPAs will automatically be considered for these CoE PhD Fellowship positions. Only those applying for integrated MS/Ph.D. or Ph.D. studies are qualified for KAIST CoE PhD Fellowships. The fellowship pays a monthly fellowship of 2,500,000 KRW (with 50% from CoE and 50% from individual departments/professors) and is awarded for the duration of 4 years, conditioned on satisfactory progress toward degree requirements. This benefit is in addition to the tuition waivers.
Location | On-Campus | Off-campus |
---|---|---|
Health Insurance | SHIA: 40,000 KRW / semester (optional) | NHI: 143,000 KRW / month (mandatory) |
Lodging | 120,000 KRW~320,000 KRW /month | 350,000~500,000 / month |
Food | 6,000 KRW~8,000 KRW / meal | 10,000 KRW~15,000 KRW / meal |
Coffee | 3,000~6,000 KRW / drink | |
Phone bill | 30,000~50,000 KRW / month | |
Total Expense | 973,000 KRW | 1,353,000 KRW |
As for tax information, the Korean tax office deducts 8.8% of the salary every month, but at the end of the year, the Tax Office keeps only up to 300,000 KRW and returns the rest of the amount. As an example, if a student gets 1.5 million KRW a month, 132,000 KRW of this gets deducted every month. At the end of the year, out of the total 1,584,000 KRW (=12*132,000) kept at the Tax Office, 1,284,000 KRW (=1,584,000-300,000) is returned to the student. So, in effect, the student ends up paying only 25,000 KRW a month.