Hello readers~ I am the new Editor-in-Chief of The UOS Times. I became the Editor-in-Chief this past July. At first, when the voting results were released, I was more afraid than happy. I worried about whether I would be able to handle the job. Of course it would be great if I made improvements to The UOS Times, but at the time, I was thinking, ‘I would be very thankful if I do not mess up what the former Editor-in-Chief has done.’ I was frustrated until someone told me this, “If what you are doing is what you love to do, then you will figure things out eventually.” Hearing this, I kept myself busy during the summer by reading other English magazines to get good ideas for how to lead and make improvements in The UOS Times. With this effort, and with the effort of other reporters, a few changes were made to the magazine. For the kicker Focus on UOS, we decided to introduce you to the clubs of UOS. In Global UOS, we are now going to publish the writings of foreign professors and foreign exchange students. I had a few more changes that I wanted to make to our magazine, but I will try to implement those next year. Please read The UOS Times constantly to see the changes for yourself! The reporters of The UOS Times and I will try harder to improve our magazine.

Are you feeling devastated because you have not been able to do as you planned during the summer vacation? Every summer and winter vacation, it is hard to stick to the plan that we made. Since most of us do not have classes to attend during vacation, it is hard to wake up early or live everyday routinely. Are you thinking that it is too late to start over? No. Do not be discouraged. In the movie American Beauty (1999), Kevin Spacey said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Do not be stuck in regrets. Start fresh. Make a new plan. Since a new semester is here, it will be easier for you to follow your plan because you have classes and tests that you have to study for. It is already September 2012. More than half a year has passed. The year 2012 will not come back. Do not try to spend the rest of the year petering out. Spend it meaningfully by setting your priorities straight.

UOS has made an effort to take the burden of high tuition fee away from students and their parents by cutting tuition fees in half. Starting from the first semester of 2012, UOS students now pay just a little over 1,000,000 won per semester. The halved tuition enables students to spend less time on working part-time jobs, and have more time of their own. Since UOS was the first university to put the Half Tuition Fees policy into practice, it got a lot of attention from other universities and their students, as well as citizens from all over the country. Although the Half Tuition Fees policy relieved the financial burden, during the first semester, some UOS students thought that a few of the university’s programs were disappearing due to this new policy. I myself thought so too. It seemed that UOS students were losing more benefits than getting them because of the halved tuition fee. This edition’s Cover Story deals with the misunderstandings that UOS students and citizens have about half tuition fee and changes in the university’s policies. After reading our Cover Story, you will find out that the university’s budget cuts and the half tuition fee policy are unrelated.