this only applies to school provided housing, not to the payouts EPIK teachers get in liue of school provided housing.
As of this month, EPIK will be increasing the housing subsidy in my province (Gyeongbuk, although I believe that this wil also apply to other provinces) from 400,000 won to 500,000 won.This seems like a sensible thing to do, considering that rent has increased pretty dramatically over the last few years!However, there's a caveat: this only applies to school provided housing, not to the payouts EPIK teachers get in liue of school provided housing.This sucks for obvious reasons (I get the payout and I want the 500,000 won!), but I really wonder what the rational behind having two different subsidies would be. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to offer the higher subsidy to the payout and thereby encourage teachers to not be reliant on the schools for rent? This would decrease book-keeping etc and make everybody's life a lot easier. Thoughts?
They just told us at the renewal meeting that the rent subsidy will be 500,000 won for everyone regardless of whether or not they're in the school housing or renting their own place.
Am I dumb? Can someone explain this? If it's school provided then they'll have had the apartment for years for whomever is teaching, no? And they don't show you the bills every month, you just pay utilities. And even of they spend more money, are they gonna kick you out and move you to a nicer place? I don't understand what this means. "Renting your own" makes sense because they cut you a check. It's quite evident that 400 would go to 500.......... Am I dumb?
Talked to the Gyeongbuk POE rep and they said over here, it's for the schools *only*, and meant as a last resort if no cheaper rents are available in the are. NETs here will still be receiving the 400k. I pointed out that I knew of teachers who were receiving 500k, and they told me in no uncertain terms that that was a mistake, and if they knew who it was, they would talk to the school.So, uh, just saying, if you're getting 500k from a gyeongbuk school, don't make any noise about it!
Maybe they hadn't planned on it and it was "leaked"?I first heard of it from a friend who's coworker mentioned it to her during lunch conversation. Probably assumed we already knew about it. Got an amazingly memorable "wtf" rant text about it though, which was nice!But hey, at least EPIK is being consistent!- This year we will give you a raise! (but only for those of you who would otherwise be making less than minimum wage, which happens to be almost none of you, as we're not hiring the lowest pay tiers anymore)- Look out for the all new EPIK+ opportunity! (which is basically the same as EPIK and EPIK-, except with an extra long, mandatory winter orientation in Jeju)- The housing subsidy is going to increase (but only for those of you who don't see any of it anyway).
My school paid rent went up from 330,000 to 500,000 a month this year. I was puzzled that the school admin didn't so much as bat an eye about it. They must be getting more money this year.I would have been screwed if I had taken the housing stipend of 400,000. Rents are skyrocketing.
Where I am, every level got a raise and those receiving the housing allowance will be getting 500k. I understand why they allow different P/MOEs to set their own policies but when the EPIK program runs in such a way that teachers are not able to choose their location, they really should keep it the same across the entire country.
To my knowledge
Accurate as ever. I'm not in Busan.