Korea's Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association is taking applications for its second-semester 2026 scholarship through October 23, 2026. The official announcement (고용노동부 보도자료) says 150 qualifying university or junior-college students—construction workers themselves or their children—will be selected for KRW 2 million each as educational support. Both the construction worker and the student must be Korean nationals, alongside the additional restrictions in the current association notice (건설e음 모집 안내). Meeting minimum credited-day figures does not guarantee selection. Checked October 11, 2026 (KST).
Contribution days: workers and children have different thresholds
The days below are the construction worker's credited retirement-contribution days (퇴직공제 적립일수), whether the student applicant is the worker or their child.
| Applicant | Total credited days | Recent credited days |
|---|---|---|
| Construction worker enrolled as a student | At least 85 | At least 85 in the previous year or the previous 12 months |
| Construction worker's student child | At least 252 | At least 100 in the previous year or the previous 12 months |
Both the total and the recent-period conditions apply. Having reached 252 days in total, for example, does not itself establish that a child applicant's worker parent meets the separate recent 100-day threshold. Do not confuse the worker's credited work days with the student's university credits.
Academic eligibility and selection are separate steps
In either applicant category, the student must be a Korean national enrolled at a domestic four-year university or junior college (전문대학교), have completed at least 12 credits in the preceding regular semester, and earned at least 80 on a percentile-100 grading scale for that semester. The current association notice excludes freshmen and transfer students with no preceding regular-semester grade, students beyond their regular study period or on leave (including interrupted study for military service), and students at certain institution types such as graduate, remote, lifelong-learning and foreign institutions. Workers who have already received or are claiming their retirement benefit are also excluded. A Korean-national child cannot apply if the construction-worker parent is a foreign national (notice FAQ A8). Consult the full association eligibility and application notice (건설e음), not just these minimums.
The general limit is one student per household. The main eligibility section of the association's linked notice document describes a two-child exception if both parents qualify, while FAQ A5 in that same document says a household with several student children applies only once. Families considering two applications should ask the association which interpretation currently applies; this article does not resolve the conflicting official guidance.
The association says it will rank candidates using 50 points for the Korea Student Aid Foundation's household support bracket (학자금 지원구간), 50 for the previous semester's grades, and up to 5 bonus points relating to total contribution days and electronic-card possession/use. The support bracket follows income-and-assets assessment after household-member consent. The current notice prioritizes new applicants and recipients from before 2026; recipients of the first-semester 2026 award may be ranked later or excluded depending on demand and budget. These are selection factors, not a promise that every applicant meeting the minimums will be paid. The announcement alone does not tell an individual's bracket or final score.
For this semester, the association says it will pay selected students directly into accounts in the students' own names, rather than through the previous foundation donation/payment route. This is not an instruction to provide bank information to an unsolicited message or unofficial site. The September press release said results were expected during November; the more specific current association notice schedules November 11, 2026, subject to change, through its website and individual contact.
Before the deadline
- Confirm whether the applicant is the worker or a student child, with Korean nationality for both the worker and student and enrollment at an eligible Korean institution. Ask the association about the conflicting guidance if two children in one household may apply.
- Check the worker's total and recent credited retirement-contribution days separately.
- Confirm the student's preceding regular-semester credits and percentile grade.
- Read the current official application notice (건설e음) for the documents and submission procedure. Its FAQ A6 says the student-aid support-bracket notice (학자금 지원구간 통지서) is mandatory: without it, an applicant cannot apply, regardless of the reason it is unavailable. It lists online/mobile, in-person, postal, fax and email routes; post is valid through the October 23 postmark, while the application and all required documents or corrections must otherwise be received by the deadline. The sources do not specify an online or in-person closing hour. The applicant must complete any required identity verification.
This is specifically the second-semester 2026 round; do not assume the same dates or thresholds apply to a later round. The images are conceptual scenes, not photographs of actual students or a particular Korean campus.
Read the Korean-language Naver version of this article.
About the Author
Life Mokcha's editorial team distinguishes minimum eligibility, competitive selection and the documents applicants must verify on the official portal.
