GKS stipend: what the scholarship pays

NIIED states the allowance per year. The monthly column is that figure divided by twelve — our arithmetic, not a separate NIIED number.

GKS-G has not published its 2027 guideline — in recent cycles it has followed around February — so its rows are the 2026 cycle's. The GKS-U guideline says the amount may change; the GKS-G one says it is subject to budget availability.

The allowance is meant to be your living budget, not money on top of it. The 2027 GKS-U guideline calls it an all-inclusive subsidy of:

• Living expenses
• Accommodation
• Health insurance
• Korean proficiency grants
• The TOPIK application fee
• The settlement allowance
• Return-home grant (the English text says “degree completion grants”)

Accommodation is new on that list — the 2026 GKS-U guideline named the other six. Both guidelines' FAQs say scholars pay for their accommodation out of the monthly allowance, and NIIED's notices to 2026 scholars say the scholarship does not cover the dormitory fee. The 2026 GKS-G benefit table prints its amounts without a breakdown.

If TOPIK level 5 or 6 exempts you from the language year — a score submitted with the application or, on GKS-U, a new one sent to NIIED by 24 December 2026 — GKS-U adds a Korean proficiency grant automatically; its Korean text calls it a planned supplement to the allowance. GKS-G's 2026 guideline pays the grant too, except in the Global Network and research programs, to professors exempted in 100% English-taught programs, to IRTS Korean-course graduates with TOPIK level 3 or above, and to R&D applicants to 100% English-taught departments.

Tuition

NIIED pays up to KRW 5,000,000 a semester, and the university pays the admission fee. The 2027 GKS-U English guideline also puts anything above the cap on the university; its Korean text and the GKS-G guideline do not say. The GKS-G research program gets no tuition.

Korean language course

KRW 5,200,000 for the language year. On GKS-G the 2026 guideline pays no language fee for the Global Network and research programs, R&D applicants to 100% English-taught departments, or professors exempted from the course.

Airfare

Economy-class airfare at actual cost. Neither guideline pays it to a scholar already living in Korea when the final results are announced, or covers entry costs for one arriving from a country other than their own, travel inside the home country, or travel insurance. GKS-G 2026 adds that scholars selected in China and the Czech Republic get no round-trip airfare, under agreements between the governments.

Not on arrival. NIIED's notices to 2026 scholars say the allowance is paid only after you open a Korean bank account, which needs your residence card first, and that this takes one to three months. Bring your own money for that gap.

The same notices say the scholarship does not cover the dormitory fee, and that GKS medical insurance starts at the beginning of the semester.

Visa, arrival and the first payment

Estimate what you need before the first payment

Withdraw in the first three months and you repay everything received since selection. GKS-U counts those months from enrolling at the university. GKS-G's English guideline says the same, but its Korean text — which that guideline says prevails — counts them from entering Korea. GKS-G also says a later change of status can mean repaying part of it, or having it deducted from the next payment.

The 2026 GKS-U guideline paid KRW 12,840,000 a year in the language year and KRW 13,680,000 on the degree — about 1,070,000 and 1,140,000 a month. The 2027 guideline raises both by KRW 720,000 a year. A page still quoting the older figures is describing the 2026 cycle.