FAP Traitors Up Uni Fee by 11.2% pa! To Subsidize FTrash Free Scholarships?

[makapaaa]

[h=2]Got “tuition grant” or no “tuition grant”?[/h]

April 2nd, 2013 |

Author: Contributions

Leong Sze Hian

Thanks to reader who sent education statistics in 1987…
After writing the article “University fees increased 7.5% p.a. last 26 years?” (Mar 30), a reader ES sent a 5 March 1987 Straits Times (page 10) article “Ministerial statement on higher fees for NUS, NTI” to the editor of TR Emeritus, as I had said in my article that I was not able to find the education statistics for 1987.
Tuition fee only $1,200 in 1986/87?
According to the article, the tuition fees at NUS in 1986/87 for non-Medicine courses was $1,200, and $1,300 for Medicine.
This year, the fees have increased to $7,650, $8,950, $10,800 and $23,050, for Arts & Social Science, Accountancy & Business Administration, Law and Medicine, respectively.
Increase of as much as 11.2% p.a.?
This translates into an annualised increase of about 7.1, 7.1, 8.5 and 11.2 per cent respectively, for the 27 years from 1986/87 to 2013.
Versus 1.95% inflation?
In contrast, inflation for the 26 years from 1986 to 2012, was only about 1.95 per cent per annum.
Versus only 1.4% Govt spending per student?
The article also said “Government was spending each year $14,400 to educate a student at the university level”. Now, Government Recurrent Expenditure on Education per Student for University was $20,805 in 2012.
So, does this mean that “Government spending each year to educate a student at the university level”, only increased by an annualised rate of about 1.4 per cent over the 26 years, from 1986 to 2012?
Versus huge Budget surpluses?
Why did we accumulate billions of dollars of Budget surpluses almost every year, over the years, and spent so much less on university students, relative to tuition fees increase? (“Budget surplus: $3.9b or $36b?”, Mar 24)
Versus 6.8% p. a. GDP growth?
Moreover, GDP growth was about 6.8 per cent per annum, over the 26 years, from 1986 to 2012.
Why wasn’t GDP growth translated into more spending on university students?
No tuition grant?
Now what may be particularly interesting is that there appears to be no mention of any tuition grant in 1986/87.
Today, the tuition grant may be about $21,900 per year.
Tuition increased 12.6% p.a.?
So, if we factor in today ‘s tuition grant, does it mean that gross tuition fees may have ballooned at an annualised rate of about 12.6 per cent, from $1,200 in 1986/87 to $29,550 (tuition fee $7,650 + tuition grant $21,900) now in 2013?
Tuition grant like HDB Market Subsidy?
Or could it be that the tuition grant may be akin to the HDB Market Subsidy Pricing policy, which calls the price for new HDB flats as a “subsidised” price? – “Subsidised” tuition fee after the tuition fee grant?
By the way, when was the concept of “tuition grant” introduced?
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Leong Sze Hian
Leong Sze Hian is the Past President of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, an alumnus of Harvard University, Wharton Fellow, SEACeM Fellow and an author of 4 books. He is frequently quoted in the media. He has also been invited to speak more than 100 times in 25 countries on 5 continents. He has served as Honorary Consul of Jamaica, Chairman of the Institute of Administrative Management, and founding advisor to the Financial Planning Associations of Brunei and Indonesia. He has 3 Masters, 2 Bachelors degrees and 13 professional qualifications. He blogs at http://www.leongszehian.com.
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[makapaaa]

[h=2]How do needy medical students cope with $100K tuition fee?[/h]

April 1st, 2013 |

Author: Contributions

Leong Sze Hian

I refer to the article “Wooing Singaporean doctors home” (My Paper, Mar 4).
Few needy students get aid?
In this connection, according to the article “Cost of medical education, financial assistance and medical school demographics in Singapore” by Ng C L, Tambyah P A, Wong C Y (2009), “21.9 percent (of medical students) came from families with a monthly income of less than S$3,000, with another 26.2 percent from families with monthly incomes of S$3,000–S$5,000″ but only “14.6 percent received scholarships or bursaries”.
Why is it that the percentage who received scholarships or bursaries was so low, relative to the percentage of lower-income families?
More than $100,000 in debt?
“A five-year medical course can cost more than S$100,000 and pose a significant financial burden for students.
More rich than poor students?
The proportion of students who came from lower-income families was lower in medical school than at the national level, while the proportion from high income families was significantly higher than at the national level. It can be observed that while 32.3% of Singaporean households have a monthly household income of < S$3,000, a significantly lower proportion of medical students (21.9%) fall under this range (p < 0.001). At the other end of the spectrum, while 28.8% of Singaporean households have a monthly income of > S$7,000, a much higher proportion (34.1%) of medical students fall under this range (p < 0.001).” – This means that lower-income families are under-represented, relative to higher-income families.
Financial deterrent?
“Young doctors in Singapore can potentially accrue over S$100,000 in debt over the course of their undergraduate medical training. This enormous financial burden is expected to have major implications on the accessibility of medical school to students from lower-income families. High tuition fees may be an important deterrent for students from lower income families. ”
Almost half of pay gone?
“A student who is in receipt of the various loan schemes begins his or her house-officership with a debt of more than $100,000. With a repayment period of ten years and a prime interest rate of 5.88% per annum for the DBS Bank and OCBC Bank as the basis of computation, a young House Officer (HO) will be required to fork out approximately $1,131 monthly for ten years in order to pay off his loan. For a HO whose monthly take-home salary is approximately $2,500, almost half of his earnings will go towards the repayment of these education loans. This is likely to have a significant impact on the quality of life of these young medical graduates and their families.”
Stressed & low procreation?
“and also influenced their decisions on whether to have children. Medical students who have higher levels of debt worry more about their finances and experience higher levels of stress. Again, the societal implications of these findings for Singapore need to be carefully considered.
Only 10.2% get help?
From our study, only 10.2% of medical students are on some form of financial aid that does not require repayment in monetary terms, such as scholarships and bursaries.
In the U.S. – 70%?
In the United States, a study of 118 medical schools revealed that 44% of medical students received scholarships from medical school or university sources alone, while 70% of medical schools had fund-raising campaigns to increase the amount of scholarship support available to medical students.”
Fees keep increasing?
“We are concerned about whether the level of debt will rise to a level at which medical training is no longer economically affordable for the less affluent Singaporean.”
Financial aid offset fees first?
Given the financial stress of medical students from lower-income families, I find it rather heartless to see from the university’s web site that – “Disbursement of Funds -
Upon satisfactory compliance of all terms and conditions of the scholarship/financial aid offer, funds in respect of the same will be credited to the student’s account with the Office of Financial Services. All bursaries will be disbursed in half on a semester basis and will only be disbursed if tuition fees are charged.
All fees due to the University will however be deducted from such proceeds prior to crediting” – Does this mean that a needy student who qualifies for financial aid like a bursary, will have his or her money used to offset any tuition fees outstanding first?
So, is it any wonder that you may meet needy students who may spend as many hours working part-time, than they spend studying?
A big thank you to those who have contributed more bursaries
As the data in the above article is now a few years old, hopefully things have improved. I believe they have improved a little – there are more bursaries now so that the figure is probably higher than the 10.2 per cent receiving financial aid, cited in the article.
The new list of bursaries available is at http://medicine.nus.edu.sg/corporate/education/medicine/adm_financial_assistance.aspx
I understand that one of the authors’ (of the article) family has actually contributed a bursary.
Perhaps it is a pity that the government does not make up the shortfall and we have to depend on concerned Singaporeans!
Tuition Grant for foreign students?
In this connection, instead of giving a Tuition Grant of up to $21,900 per foreign student and permanent resident (PR) student, why not use some of it to help needy Singaporean students more. (“Government subsidizes more than half of foreigners’ total tuition fees” and “Local universities ‘hiding’ tuition grant info of FT students?“, TR Emeritus, Mar 30)
How much in total do the Tuition Grants to all non-Singaporean students in the universities amount to in a year?
Reference:
“How many foreign students paying full fees?“, Mar 7, 2012
“What percentage of students in our universities are Singaporeans?“, Aug 16, 2011
“Foreign scholars: Missing statistics?“, Feb 22, 2012
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Leong Sze Hian
Leong Sze Hian is the Past President of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, an alumnus of Harvard University, Wharton Fellow, SEACeM Fellow and an author of 4 books. He is frequently quoted in the media. He has also been invited to speak more than 100 times in 25 countries on 5 continents. He has served as Honorary Consul of Jamaica, Chairman of the Institute of Administrative Management, and founding advisor to the Financial Planning Associations of Brunei and Indonesia. He has 3 Masters, 2 Bachelors degrees and 13 professional qualifications. He blogs at http://www.leongszehian.com.

 

[lesMISERABLES]

The parents of college undergrads who voted for LEEgime at the last general election deserve to be fcuk.

 

[The_Hypocrite]

Actually,,,I am abit upset that the Oppos and WP included has not brought this up in Parleement,,this is a good issue to expose more dirt on the Pappies,,Free scholarships to Foreigners,,NS for Singaporeans...

Was at the Kent ridge guildhouse for dinner last weekend,,cant believe how many ah tiongs walking around and they are uni students,,,FUCK PAP

 

[lesMISERABLES]

Was at the Kent ridge guildhouse for dinner last weekend,,cant believe how many ah tiongs walking around and they are uni students,,,

You're serious? becos' that's good news. It spells the beginning of the end for Sink-a-pore. 好极了

 

[tonychat]

so what do the uni sinkie students do?? keep quiet and suck thumb??? useless bunch, totally no future at all.

That is why i stay away from sinkies.