After 20 years, college admission prediction services go dark — leaving only pricey consulting

The Ministry of Education banned the commercial use of school record transcripts to curb private tutoring, but the move is drawing warnings of unintended consequences. Critics say the regulation has wiped out free and low-cost services offered by major test-prep companies, leaving only expensive private consulting — and potentially widening the information gap between students.

The amended Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which prohibits acquiring, trading or using school record transcripts for commercial purposes, takes effect Wednesday. Under the law, collecting student transcripts for paid lectures or admissions marketing, operating transcript analysis services, and using the records as AI training data are all banned. Violations carry a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won ($34,100).

The regulation was originally designed to block the buying and selling of transcripts belonging to graduates and college applicants. But as restrictions expanded beyond financial transactions to cover consulting and admission prediction services that rely on those records, confusion spread across the test-prep industry.

Major test-prep firms have suspended or scaled back all free services that relied on school transcripts, citing the risk of legal violations. MegaStudyEdu shut down its university early-admission prediction service, which it had operated for about 20 years, while Jongno Hagwon also halted its free mock application service. Jinhaksa suspended its AI transcript analysis service and now runs only a limited function centered on subject-grade ratings. Uway also announced that some features may be reduced or changed after the law takes effect.

The industry says the boundaries of what is permitted remain unclear. "Even when we ask the Ministry of Education about the scope of the rules, responses are slow or vary depending on who you speak to," an official at one test-prep firm said. "With early application season approaching, it is hard to judge how far we can operate our services."

The Ministry of Education says students can turn to public counseling services for admissions guidance. According to the ministry, quantitative consultations — in which a student compares their own grades against the final enrollment figures for each university published on the college admissions portal "Eodiga" — remain permissible. However, comparing one's own transcript against the grades of past successful applicants to assess admission chances is still illegal.

Expecting a surge in demand for public counseling under the new rules, education authorities plan to expand and strengthen those services. They intend to make greater use of Eodiga, operated by the Korean Council for University Education, alongside regional education office career and admissions centers and individual universities' own counseling services.

Test-takers and parents say the disappearance of admission prediction services has made it harder to map out application strategies. In previous years, students cross-referenced guidance from schools and education offices with predictions from multiple test-prep firms to decide where to apply, but this year the available information has shrunk considerably.

"You need to compare results from both school and education office counseling and from test-prep companies before you can decide where to apply," said one parent of a high school senior. "With early applications just around the corner, the sudden drop in information is overwhelming."

There are also concerns that the ban could polarize private tutoring demand. While the free and low-cost services used by the majority of students have been shut down, high-priced in-person consulting remains permitted. "When the publicly available services from major firms disappear, demand could migrate to small-scale, high-cost consulting," another test-prep industry official said. "A balloon effect that widens the information gap could emerge."

A mismatch between supply and demand in public admissions counseling is also a concern. Only about 1,000 students can benefit from in-person consultations at early-application fairs run by the Korean Council for University Education and regional education offices, yet this year's pool of applicants — including repeat test-takers — exceeds 410,000.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education is launching an illegal-activity reporting center for private transcript consulting. Cases will be received through a clean center within the school transcript integrated support portal, and authorities will decide whether to refer them to police investigation after weighing factors including the specificity and severity of each case.