Are there any scholarships for language programs specifically?

There is less than for degree programs, and you are right that GKS does not cover a standalone language year. But it is not nothing.

What actually exists:

1. University-internal language program scholarships. Most of the big programs run these — typically a 10 to 30 percent tuition reduction for the next term, awarded on attendance and grades from your current term. You cannot get one before you arrive; you earn it in your first semester. These are the most winnable and the most overlooked.

2. Continuing-student discounts. Many schools reduce tuition for your third or fourth consecutive term at the same institution. Not advertised as a scholarship, but it is money.

3. Referral and sibling discounts. Small, but real at several schools.

4. Korean government and Korean Cultural Centre programs run out of your own country. Your local Korean Cultural Centre or embassy sometimes funds short language courses, summer programs, or partial support. These vary enormously by country and are almost never listed in English on Korean sites — check your local centre's page in your own language.

5. GKS does include a language year, but only as part of a full degree scholarship. If a degree is your longer plan, that is the route worth aiming at, not a separate language grant.

What does not really exist: full-ride scholarships for a standalone language year for a complete beginner. If you find one advertised, look very carefully at who is offering it.

The honest framing: the biggest lever on your cost is not a scholarship, it is choosing a school whose tuition and city are affordable, and earning the internal discount from term two onward. A 30 percent reduction on terms two, three and four is worth more than most external grants.

We go through the internal scholarship criteria with our students at the start of term one, because they are almost always attendance-based and the students who know that from day one are the ones who get them.