“Economic disadvantage should never stop you”
“Daddy Long Legs” donates 100 million KRW to KU PRIDE CLUB each year

As in each of the previous three years, another 100 million Korean Won was transmitted to the KU Office of Capital Planning from KU PRIDE CLUB member “Daddy Long Legs” in 2018.

Initiated on May 5, 2015 in celebration of KU’s 110th Anniversary, the KU PRIDE CLUB is a donation campaign in which 300 thousand KU alumni, faculty and staff members, students’ families, and others make monthly donations from as little as 10,000 KRW. The fund so established is allocated as living expenses grants, tuition fee waivers, and/or exchange program aids for over 1,000 students every year, thereby providing them with spare time that they would otherwise spend working part-time, as well as opportunities to focus on their studies and other valuable activities.

Over 1,000 people signed up for the KU PRIDE CLUB within its first four months. Over the past three years, the total is now over 4,200 KU PRIDE CLUB members, and 14,000 units of donation (i.e. 3.8 billion KRW) have been collected.

Economically disadvantaged students tend to spend much of their time working as part-timers and, naturally, spend less time on studying and other valuable activities. In response to the issue, Korea University abolished merit scholarships in 2016 – an unprecedented move in Korea – and reinforced need-based scholarship programs.

The KU PRIDE CLUB Scholarship is one example. In the form of living expenses grants and exchange program aids, it has encouraged 90 students so far to participate in (otherwise unaffordable) exchange student programs beginning with the 2016 Fall Semester. With the aid of funding, averaging 10 million KRW for each student, for air tickets, and accommodation and living expenses, the recipients all successfully completed the program in the countries of their choice – 46 in Europe, 20 in North America, 16 in Asia, 7 in Latin America, and 1 in Oceania.

The idea of the KU PRIDE CLUB impressed a number of donors, such as “Daddy Long Legs,” who has been donating 100 million KRW every year with the hope that KU students are never frustrated by financial situations.

KU engraves the names of those who donate over 100 million KRW at certain places in the campus in order to recognize their contributions. However, “Daddy Long Legs” refuses to be publicly acknowledged for his donations. A successful businessman from a humble family background, “Daddy Long Legs” thought that KU students from similar backgrounds could do much better with just a little support, and decided to contribute to the KU PRIDE CLUB.

A group of 27 students has recently been selected as KU PRIDE CLUB Exchange Students for the 2018 Fall Semester. They will also have the precious opportunities to study at the world’s leading institutions all over the world with the help of KU PRIDE CLUB members including “Daddy Long Legs.”

The KU PRIDE CLUB aims to promote continuous contributions to the future development of KU and its students, rather than one-shot financial sponsorships, and is expected to pave the way for a stronger donation culture for Korean universities in general.