South Korea has revised support programs for North Korean defectors, eliminating age restrictions for college tuition assistance and expanding access to a government savings program.

The revisions to the North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement Support Act, which took immediate effect as of Tuesday, remove the previous 35-year age limit for higher education subsidies and lift enrollment timing restrictions that required defectors to begin college within their first five years of settlement.

According to a press releasefrom the Ministry of Unification, while South Korea’s college enrollment rate stands at 76.2%, about 79% of North Korean defectors arrive with