When a notice arrives asking for a field trip fee or a graduation album fee, most families look at the amount and pay. But a school cannot set whatever charge it likes for parents. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act makes these costs a matter for the School Steering Committee to review, and the education office guidelines set deadlines for settling and disclosing them. This article follows Article 32 of the Act, the Busan accounting rules for public kindergartens and schools, and the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education's 2026 school-year school accounting budget guidelines, and explains what process the money parents pay must go through and what to check when a notice arrives.

Money schools collect from parents has a review process set by law

Article 32, paragraph 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act lists what the School Steering Committee reviews. Item 5 is matters in which parents bear costs, such as school uniforms, gym clothes and graduation albums. Item 6 covers educational and training activities after regular class hours or during vacations, item 9 covers the raising, management and use of school operation support fees, and item 10 covers school meals. In other words, the amount printed on a notice should be the result of a review by the committee.

Parent-paid costs include meals, field trips and graduation albums

In school accounting, money paid by parents is called a beneficiary-paid expense. In the account table of the Busan Office of Education's 2026 guidelines, beneficiary-paid revenue is split into student meal fees, milk fees, staff meal fees, after-school program fees, field trip fees (school trips, outings, visits and training activities), youth group activity fees, graduation album fees, textbook fees, dormitory fees, Nuri curriculum fees and other beneficiary-paid revenue. School uniforms also go through committee review, and the new price caps are covered separately in our article on the 2027 uniform price caps. After-school costs in elementary school often overlap with vouchers and support programs, so our article on the grade 3 after-school voucher helps you work out what is actually your own cost.

Parent council input and committee review come before any money is collected

The Busan guidelines define beneficiary-paid revenue as costs needed to run the curriculum that parents bear after the parent council's opinions are gathered and the School Steering Committee has reviewed them, and require that it be entered in the school account's revenue and expenditure budget. It must also be budgeted by project, and the calculation basis must be written in the order of unit price, number of people and number of times; a bare total does not meet the guidelines. How parent members of the committee are chosen and how they can submit opinions is explained in our article on school rule changes and the committee.

Money that has not been reviewed cannot be spent early or moved elsewhere

Beneficiary-paid revenue may be used before the budget is formally adopted. The basis is Article 15, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Busan rules, and spending early requires a document in which the principal decided to collect the fee after committee review. The guidelines then add a limit: beneficiary-paid revenue that has not been reviewed in advance by the School Steering Committee cannot be used as pre-adoption budget. Such revenue also cannot be shifted to other budget items, which means a field trip fee cannot be used to top up some other event.

Once the project ends, it must be settled within 10 days and leftovers returned

Article 22, paragraph 2 of the Busan rules requires beneficiary-paid projects to be settled within 10 days after they end. The guidelines say any money left over is to be returned to parents. When the amount is too small to refund one by one, it can be deducted from the next charge or used for student welfare, after committee review. This part differs by region. The Gyeonggi Office of Education's 2025 guidelines allow small balances to be transferred to the school development fund after committee review. Either way, a review is required.

Settlement details must be disclosed to parents within 10 days of settlement

After settlement comes the duty to disclose. Article 22, paragraph 2 of the Busan rules requires the school to disclose the details of each project to parents, including the budget and final accounts, the contractor and how it was selected, within 10 days of the settlement date. The method is individual notice or the school website, and projects in which parents pay nothing may skip it. In Busan, beneficiary-paid expenses are also posted under the information disclosure menu of the relevant education office: the district education office for public kindergartens, elementary and middle schools, and the city office of education for high schools, special schools and miscellaneous schools. The Gyeonggi guidelines for 2025 leave the method to each school, such as a website posting, and only set the timing at within 10 days of settlement. The place of disclosure differs by region.

Teacher travel costs and cash payments are not the parents' burden

Two points are often misunderstood. First, the travel costs of the teachers who accompany a school trip or field trip. The Busan guidelines say these costs go into the school budget so that the travel costs of accompanying staff are not charged to beneficiary-paid expenses or to the vendor. A field trip fee paid by parents should not contain teacher expenses. Second, cash payment. Citing a Ministry of Education document, the guidelines in principle prohibit cash collection of beneficiary-paid revenue and call for electronic methods such as school banking or credit cards. If a parent asks to pay in cash, however, the school must process it as a transfer to the school account or as a cash receipt.

Order of steps: what to check when a notice arrives

First, check whether the notice shows the unit price, number of people and number of times for each item. If it shows only a total, you can ask for the calculation. Second, ask whether the School Steering Committee reviewed it. Third, check whether a settlement result arrives after the event and whether leftover money is refunded or deducted from the next charge. Fourth, look for the settlement disclosure on the school website or the education office's information disclosure menu. Fifth, if the cost is hard to bear, school meal fees, school operation support fees and textbook purchase costs are among the costs covered by education cost support, so see how to apply in our article on the education benefit and education cost support. This article explains the system and is not legal advice on any individual school's case. Deadlines and disclosure methods differ by city and provincial office of education, so rely on the announcements of your school and its district education office.