How much cash do you need for several training courses?
The Korea Training Card Course Copay and Balance Calculator helps people planning employment training or a career change budget for several courses.
An advertised copay may assume sufficient card credit.
Taking another course first can reduce that credit and increase the cash needed for the next enrollment.
This tool separates government support from the amount you need to pay.
A learner combining a qualification course with office-computing training should check the current balance, participant category, approved tuition and support terms for each course.
Enter recognizable course names and compare the payment order.
The purpose is cash planning, not predicting future earnings or the return on a qualification.
This calculator uses Korean National Tomorrow Learning Card rules verified in 2026.
It does not determine eligibility or approve enrollment.
Results are budgets based on confirmed inputs.
Use the separate certification and bootcamp ROI calculator for investment recovery and expected salary gains.
Card credit is different from your bank balance
Available training credit
Enter the currently usable ordinary-account balance shown on Work24.
Do not include money in a linked bank account, a credit-card spending limit, expected support, or separate K-Digital credits.
If another course has reserved or is about to use credit, confirm how much is still available before allocating it again.
Base allowance, top-ups and validity
Article 14 sets an ordinary base allowance of KRW 3,000,000, a conditional additional KRW 2,000,000 and a total ordinary-account ceiling of KRW 5,000,000.
Do not add a possible top-up before approval and availability are confirmed.
Article 16 gives an ordinary account a five-year validity period from issuance; unused credit expires.
Check the timing of all planned courses.
Cash available for payment
Available cash is the money you can use for copays and separate materials or examination fees.
Enter it independently of training credit.
The cash budget shortage is the amount by which total cash needed exceeds your available cash.
It is not a recommended loan amount or a credit approval.
Checking course inputs
Participant category and support rate
Select the confirmed general, Earned Income Tax Credit, National Employment Support or other participant category.
Occupation outcomes, provider performance, exceptions and course types can change the support rate within a category.
Category selection therefore does not fill in a rate automatically.
Confirm the rate for each course using your Work24 copay inquiry or the provider.
Approved tuition and separate expenses
Use government-approved tuition as the rate basis.
Do not include books or materials again under extras if they are already part of approved tuition.
Extras are actual additional tuition, books, materials and examination charges outside the approved amount.
Reconcile the two parts with the total quote to avoid counting an expense twice.
Two ordinary-course calculation modes
For ordinary classroom and live remote courses, enter the confirmed support rate.
A quoted 35% copay means a 65% support rate.
Ordinary recorded remote and blended courses have unit-price, hour and content-based calculations, so use the confirmed support amount before the account-balance limit instead of multiplying total tuition by a simple rate.
A separate support cap and confirmation
In rate mode, enable a course cap only when a separate recognized support ceiling has been confirmed.
It is not a field for repeatedly entering your overall card allowance.
Leave it disabled when no such cap applies.
Support and the cap must not exceed tuition.
Changing financial terms clears the relevant confirmation so that the revised assumptions can be checked again.
Copay and balance formulas
Nominal support before the balance limit
For ordinary classroom/live courses, nominal support equals approved tuition × support rate ÷ 100.
If a separate cap applies, use the smaller of that result and the confirmed cap.
In amount mode, nominal support is the entered confirmed amount.
Fractional won are rounded down for this budget; this is not a claim about a statutory rounding unit or the payment system used by a provider.
Actual support and the payment breakdown
Actual support = min(nominal support, preceding card balance).
Base copay = tuition − nominal support.
Additional copay caused by insufficient balance = nominal support − actual support.
Cash needed = base copay + balance shortfall + extras.
Ending balance = starting balance − actual support, and becomes the next course balance.
Interpreting the totals
Total support/account debit is the sum of actual course support.
Final balance is the credit left after all courses.
Cash budget shortage = max(0, total cash needed − available cash).
A support shortfall caused by insufficient card credit is a different measure from a shortage of money in your personal payment budget.
A fictional worked example
Current order: course A, then course B
Assume a starting card balance of KRW 1,000,000 and available cash of KRW 700,000.
A has KRW 1,000,000 tuition, a 65% support rate and KRW 50,000 extras.
B has KRW 800,000 tuition, a 75% rate and no extras.
These are synthetic figures for checking the calculation, not market prices or universal support rates.
A receives its nominal KRW 650,000 support, needs KRW 400,000 cash and leaves KRW 350,000 credit.
B has nominal support of KRW 600,000 but receives only the remaining KRW 350,000.
Its base copay of KRW 200,000 plus the KRW 250,000 support shortfall makes KRW 450,000 cash.
Total cash is KRW 850,000, total support KRW 1,000,000, ending balance zero and the cash budget shortage KRW 150,000.
Reverse order: course B, then course A
B first receives KRW 600,000 support, needs KRW 200,000 cash and leaves KRW 400,000 credit.
A then receives KRW 400,000, needs KRW 600,000 toward tuition plus KRW 50,000 extras, totaling KRW 650,000 cash.
The combined KRW 850,000 cash cost stays the same while the first and second payments change.
Step-by-step use
- Check the current ordinary-account balance and validity on Work24.
Choose your confirmed participant category and confirm that all planned courses fit within account validity.
- Enter each course name, approved tuition and extras.
Use the rate mode for ordinary classroom/live training or the confirmed pre-balance-limit amount for ordinary remote/blended training.
Check that the terms apply to you.
- Confirm the inputs and review base copay, the extra copay caused by a short balance and remaining credit.
Use the earlier/later buttons or compare the reverse-order table to plan the cash needed at each payment.
- Save the TXT plan for discussion with the provider.
Immediately before payment, check whether other courses have used credit or whether your rate or enrollment terms have changed.
Does changing course order reduce the total cost?
For the same ordinary courses, with fixed support terms and no intervening top-up or refund, order alone does not change total support or total copay.
Aggregate support is the smaller of aggregate nominal support and the initial balance.
The comparison shows how course payments are distributed over time; it does not rank courses by total savings.
If cash available in one month is limited, a lower first payment can help with scheduling.
The calculator does not check start dates, prerequisites, attendance or employment schedules.
Canceling a course, changing participant status or receiving approved additional credit changes the assumptions and requires a new calculation.
With sufficient credit, all nominal ordinary-course support is available.
With zero credit, this model budgets all tuition and extras as cash.
Whether you can enroll using the card with no remaining balance, or qualify for additional credit, must be checked separately.
Special programs and later refunds need separate review
Ordinary formulas are blocked for special programs
K-Digital Training, national strategic industry training, industry-transition programs and K-Digital credits can have different support rules.
Article 46 paragraphs 2–6 distinguish support from amounts deemed used from the account, participation limits and separate allowances.
Assuming support is limited to the ordinary balance, or that all support is debited from that balance, can produce an incorrect budget.
If any course is special or unclassified, the entire balance simulation pauses.
Simply skipping that row would also invalidate the balance for later courses.
Ask Work24 or the employment center to confirm classification, support, debit and remaining credit.
Separate special programs from an ordinary-course plan; do not infer their payments or account debits from the ordinary result.
Do not deduct a future refund from current cash
Care-service refunds under Article 46-3 depend on separate conditions and applications and are not deducted from upfront copays here.
Use the care-worker training/refund calculator for qualifying training hours and conditional post-employment refunds.
Training allowances, living-cost loans, dropout deductions, cancellation refunds and other later adjustments are also excluded.
Practical planning and common mistakes
Two qualifications for a career change
Courses from different providers may draw on the same ordinary-account credit.
Put them into the same plan when that applies.
A provider may describe support for its own course only, so do not assume every quote can use the same untouched balance.
Clear course names make the saved plan easier to check with each institution.
Transferring a remote-course quote
The confirmed support amount must be the recognized amount before the current balance limit.
Entering a figure already reduced for insufficient credit distorts the shortfall breakdown and order comparison.
Ask the provider for the eligible support when sufficient balance is available.
If that amount is unknown, leave the course unconfirmed until it is clarified.
Updating a plan
Changing the participant category or balance requires course terms to be checked again.
Do not treat a future rate as confirmed or an unpaid refund as reusable credit.
Separate fees also differ when materials are included or an examination must be retaken.
Compare the plan against the actual contract and itemized quote.
Frequently asked questions
Should I enter the support rate or the copay rate?
Enter the support rate: a 35% copay means 65% support.
Extras and insufficient credit can still make your cash payment greater than 35% of tuition, so review both separately.
Can the balance be below KRW 3,000,000?
Yes.
Enter the currently available balance without restoring credit already used.
KRW 5,000,000 is an ordinary-account ceiling, not cash automatically provided to everyone at issuance.
Can I compare a course with zero support?
Yes, when zero is confirmed.
The budget then includes all tuition and extras as cash.
If zero merely means you have not checked the amount yet, leave confirmation unchecked so it is not mistaken for confirmed zero support or free tuition.
Can I enter special-program support manually?
The manual amount mode is still for ordinary courses whose actual support is debited from the ordinary account.
Special programs can use deemed debits, separate credits or support above the account balance.
Choose the special/unclassified mode and seek separate confirmation.
Why does the total stay the same when I change order?
When all ordinary courses are taken on identical terms, the total available credit is fixed.
Order changes which course receives that credit first.
Compare each row of cash needed and ending balance to see the difference.
Is the additional KRW 2,000,000 added automatically?
No.
Check the eligibility and approval process and update the available balance only once an approved amount is available.
An in-tool confirmation does not replace approval by an employment center.
What if different providers charge me on the same day?
Confirm the actual account-processing order with the providers.
The calculator deducts once per course in the entered order and does not predict concurrent authorizations, reserved credit or processing delays.
A different actual order can change individual course payments.
Is the saved plan proof of support approval?
No.
It records your inputs and estimated payments for discussion.
It does not guarantee eligibility, a rate, recognized tuition, enrollment or payment approval.
Keep the actual Work24 inquiry and provider advice and compare them again before paying.
Official sources and the 2026 rule basis
The verification date is 2026-09-17.
The National Law Information OPEN API returned Article 18 of the National Lifelong Vocational Skills Development Act, MST 247245, effective 2023-07-04, and Article 16 of its Enforcement Decree, MST 288451, effective 2026-08-04.
These establish the account framework and delegated support conditions, rather than determine an individual award.
The calculation scope follows Articles 14, 16 and 46 and Annex 4 of the National Tomorrow Learning Card Rules, sequence 2100000279150, Ministry of Employment and Labor Notice 2026-39, effective 2026-05-11.
Annex 4 is dated 2026-01-01; its PDF identifier is 164662043.
Provider exceptions and course details can change actual rates, so the general table is not automatically applied.
Work24 issuance and system guidance are supplementary references.
Recheck amendments, participant category, approved tuition, recognized support and validity at least quarterly and before enrollment.
Historical cancellations and refunds require the applicable historical rules and transitional provisions; do not automatically apply this current budget to them.
Save the plan before you enroll
Enter current confirmed terms and review the cash needed for every course, not just the total.
Save the TXT plan.
Ask the provider about approved tuition, additional charges and support terms, and ask the employment center about balance, validity and special-program classification.
Recalculate with confirmed conditions before choosing the enrollment order and payment budget.