헌법과 교육기본법에 의하면 대학교육기관은 학교이며 공공성을 갖는 공교육기관임을 적시하고 있다. 고등교육에도 공공성이 보장된다면 그 핵심이 되는 것은 교육비용의 공적 부담원리를 말하는 것이다. 그런데 우리나라 대학 등록금 수준은 세계 2위로 미국 다음이다. 우리나라에서 고등교육비용이 높은 이유는 사립대학의 비중이 과도하기 때문이다. 즉 국가의 재정보조를 받는 국·공립대학의 비중이 적다는 말이다. 2010년 기준으로 고등교육기관중 국공립대학의 비율은 13%로 사립대학의 비중이 87%에 달한다. 더 심각한 문제는 우리나라 사립대학의 수준이 공교육을 수행할 수 있는 능력을 확보하고 있지 못하다는 점이다. 대부분 등록금에 의존하여 학교를 운영하고 있다. 심지어 학교법인이 부담해야하는 법정부담금도 거의 등록금에 의존하고 있는 학교가 상당수이다. 우리나라 국공립대학의 등록금은 사립대학 등록금의 57% 수준이다. 따라서 교육비의 공적 부담원리를 실현하기 위해서는 국공립대학의 비중을 높여야 한다. 외국의 경우에 비교해보더라도 한국의 국공립대학 재학생 비율은 22%에 불과하다. 이는 국공립대학 재학생 비율이 80%에서 100%에 이르는 유럽 각국과 호주, 72%에 이르는 미국 등과 비교하기 힘든 세계 최저 수준이다. 이런 점에서 볼 때 사립대학위주의 고등교육공급정책을 지양할 필요가 있다. 이런 점에서 국공립대학의 신설이나 확충은 매우 필요하다. 그러나 이 방법은 고등교육의 과잉공급 상황을 고려할 때 합리적이지 못하다. 따라서 사립대학의 준국공립화 정책을 병행할 필요가 있다. 정부책임형 사립대학이란 법률이 정하는 고등교육의 인적·물적 조건을 재정적 문제로 충족하지 못하는 사립대학중 발전가능성이 있는 일부 대학에 정부지원을 하되, 해당 사립대학의 법적 지위를 반(半)공립, 반(半)사립의 지위를 갖도록 전환시킨 대학을 말한다.
The term Public Education is not synonymous with the term "publicly funded education", but Public education refers to education that is funded through taxation rather than tuition fees. In Korea students have to pay fees to colleges or universities. Pay increases have caused chronic controversy. Data from the statistics office and the Bank of Korea show that schools have been gouging parents in the past few years by raising tuition faster than inflation. Household spending on higher education has been rising inexorably over the past few years, aside from a temporary dip during the financial crisis. According to the OECD``s "Education at a Glance 2011" report, the average tuition at public Korean universities was $5,315 using purchasing power parity, which was higher than any other OECD nation aside from the United States ($6,312). The yearly average tuition at the country``s private universities and graduate schools was at $9,586, higher than the OECD average. Some argue that the numbers show Korean university students shoulder a heavier burden than those of any OECD country as the country``s public schools account for just 13 percent of its universities, the lowest proportion among OECD nations. Tuition has become a sensitive political subject. College students and citizens hold a candlelit vigil to call for the government to halve tuition fees. Most students (and their families) who pay for tuition and other education costs don``t have enough savings to pay in full while they are in school. Some students must work and/or borrow money to afford an education. Developed countries have adopted a scheme for higher education to be supported by taxes rather than tuition. After World War II, an enhanced standard of living and the existence of free university education in many countries enabled more working-class youths to receive a degree, resulting in the inflation of education and enlarged middle classes. Significant progress is necessary in the Restructuring of Higher Education in Korea. Korean higher Education shows several distinctive features when compared with other countries. First of all, the majority of higher education institutions are private. About 87% of Higher Education institutions are private. About 78% of university students and 96% of professional school students enrol in private institutions. As private institutions rely heavily on tuition revenue, their fees are relatively high. Even public universities in Korea charge substantial tuition, because government support for higher education in Korea is relatively small. Public financial expenditures on higher education as a percentage of GDP are very low at 0.3%. The net result is that, the household sector bears the bulk of the financial burden for higher education. The proportion of government subsidies was limited to 22.3%, much lower than the OECD average(68.9%). Partly the rapid expansion of higher education supply has started to exceed demand. In spite of outward goal i. e., Strengthening the Global Competitiveness of Universities, the policy of Ministry of Educations, Science And Technology has focused on shutdown of private institutions. The government has launched a campaign to restructure universities by weeding out financially-week private schools and merging state-run ones. The government``s move to weed out underperforming schools is tied to its tuition-cut drive. Korea needs to reform the universities before reviewing ways to lower tuition. But the proper way of higher education reform should begin to subsidizing higher education institution. The government needs financial subsidy rather than weeding out substandard schools to upgrade the quality of higher education.