Breakdown on Financial Aid Per Capita Provided to Students in Tertiary Institutions
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Seah Kian Peng’s inquiry regarding the per capita financial aid provided to students at NUS, Yale-NUS, polytechnics, ITE, and private universities. Minister of State Gan Siow Huang responded that tiered government bursaries provide $6,200 annually for university students and $2,750 for polytechnic students from the lowest-income households. ITE students in this tier receive a $1,500 cash bursary plus full tuition coverage, alongside access to institution-specific aid and interest-free government loans. Minister of State Gan Siow Huang specified that these bursaries cover approximately 75% of university fees and 90% of polytechnic fees for eligible Singaporeans. Private education institutions do not receive government assistance, requiring their students to utilize institution-specific financial aid or commercial loans to fund their studies.
Transcript
48 Mr Seah Kian Peng asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry can provide the respective breakdown on the financial aid per capita that is currently provided to students studying in (i) NUS (ii) Yale-NUS College (iii) Polytechnics (iv) Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and (v) private Universities, such as SIM.
The Minister of State for Education (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Government bursaries are available to Singaporean students from lower- and middle-income households at our publicly-funded Institutes of Higher Learning. The bursaries are tiered, with a higher level of support extended to those from lower-income households.
The highest level of Government bursary support is for Singaporean students with gross monthly household income up to $2,750 or household per capita income up to $690. This corresponds to around the bottom 20% by household income. Autonomous University graduates from these households, including those from Yale-NUS College, can each receive an annual bursary of $6,200. For students enrolled in NUS and NTU general courses, this is equivalent to about 75% of annual tuition fees.
Those enrolled in diploma programmes at the Polytechnics would each receive an annual bursary of $2,750, which is around 90% of annual tuition fees.
Those enrolled in Higher Nitec and Nitec programmes at the ITE receive an annual cash bursary of $1,500, on top of having their annual tuition fees fully covered. Institutions also provide their own financial aid to students to further reduce any remaining out-of-pocket expenses and these are typically funded from donations.
In addition to Government and institution bursaries, students have access to Government-funded loans that can be used to pay tuition fees. These are not means-tested and are interest-free during the course of study and payable only upon graduation or leaving the institution.
Private education institutions (PEIs) are not part of the public education system and hence Government assistance is not extended to students at these institutions. PEI students may apply for financial aid offered by PEIs or tap on education loans offered by commercial banks, to finance their studies.
1.01 pm
Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time. Ministerial Statement. Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean.
[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 49-63, 71-75, 77-81, 85-92, 94, 96-98, 101-104 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix. The remaining Questions have been postponed to a later Sitting of Parliament or withdrawn.]