New Zealand is concerned that the H1N1 flu epidemic could reduce the number of Korean middle and high students who decide to study there.

The head of a New Zealand middle school who recently visited Seoul said the hardest hit could be the schools in the North Shore region in northern Auckland that have large percentages of Koreans.

The president said schools in New Zealand rely greatly on tuition fees from Korean students and that for his school, 40 percent of the tuition paid comes out of Korean pockets.

New Zealand state statistics show that foreign students in the country’s middle and high schools contributed 142 million dollars to the nation’s coffers last year, with Koreans making up the largest ethnic group in 2007 and 2008.