"I Won't Work Part-Time": Is It Reasonable for a College Student to Ask for 1.5 Million Won a Month in Allowance? [What Do You Think?]

[Financial News] An online debate is heating up among generations and parents over whether to financially support adult university students and what an appropriate allowance would be.
Young people want parental support so they can focus on their studies and preparing for employment. However, parents are entering a period when preparing for retirement is becoming increasingly important, so conflicts between the generations are expected to intensify.
A post by Parent A, who has a university student, recently drew attention on an online community. Parent A confessed, "My child asked for a monthly allowance of 1.5 million won, saying she does not want to work part-time during the semester and wants to devote herself to maintaining her grades and building up her résumé through extracurricular activities."
According to Parent A, the student commutes from home and therefore has no separate housing expenses. Nevertheless, she argued, "Considering not only food and transportation costs but also expenses for maintaining appearances and dating, 1.5 million won a month is the minimum."
Reactions from internet users were divided. Many took a hard-line view of financial independence, saying, "Since she is legally an adult, it is unreasonable to expect an allowance in the first place" and "Paying her tuition is enough; she needs to earn her own spending money to develop financial awareness."
Some, however, offered a compromise: "The job market is so tough that parents could provide between 500,000 and 1 million won so students can study instead of working part-time, but 1.5 million won is excessive."
By contrast, a post by University Student B asking, "Is the 500,000 won I receive from my parents really insufficient?" prompted a completely different response. Many internet users sympathized with the difficult reality facing young people, saying, "Considering that a single meal at a restaurant these days easily costs more than 10,000 won, 500,000 won is nowhere near enough even after covering only transportation and textbook costs" and "That is an unrealistic amount based on prices from 20 years ago."
[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter