NUS seeking permission from MOE to increase its tuition fees

[makapaaa]

[h=2]NUS seeking permission from MOE to increase its tuition fees[/h]

February 9th, 2012

The National University of Singapore (NUS) has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education (MOE), seeking permission to increase university tuition fees for the new academic year 2012-2013.
NUS could not comment on the details of the proposal as it is awaiting MOE’s reply.
However, in a meeting with student leaders on Wed (8 Feb), NUS said it would be increasing financial aid for needy students.
The bursary fundings for needy students will be increased from $5 million to $9.5 million, starting from academic year 2012-2013.
The target is to help fund at least 1,100 needy Singaporean students at NUS.
The money will be disbursed from August when the new academic year 2012-2013 starts.
NUS said students from the bottom 20% of households in terms of average income per family member will get the most help.
NUS Provost, Professor Tan Eng Chye, said that 70% of NUS’ budget is spent on the salaries of the faculty staff.
Prof Tan said, “I think all of us, when we work in a company, we all yearn to see some salary adjustments every year. So do all the faculty staff.”
Looking at the NUS tuition fees over the last 5 academic years [Link], it can be seen that Singaporean students are paying increasing fees for students from successive academic years. At the same time, the percentage of government subsidy (tuition grant) for Singaporean students is falling for each batch of students:
Science Faculty:

Academic Batch	AY2007/2008	AY2008/2009	AY2009/2010	AY2010/2011	AY2011/2012
Total Tuition Fee S$
Student pays per year S$
% hike of what student pays
% Govt subsidy

<TBODY>
[TD="align: right"]32,510[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]32,760[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]33,020[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]33,290[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]33,570[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]6,110[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6,360[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6,620[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6,890[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]7,170[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]4.1%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4.1%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4.1%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4.1%[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]81.2%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]80.6%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]80.0%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]79.3%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]78.6%[/TD]

</TBODY>

* E.g. for new undergraduate intake of AY2011/12, a Singaporean science student would be paying tuition fee $7,170 per year (after the 78.6% Govt subsidy) for his entire candidature.
.

It is interesting to also note that the the percentage of government subsidy (tuition grant) for the various groups of students are not very far apart. Take for example, for science undergraduate students in the recent intake of academic year 2011-2012:
Science Faculty:

AY2011/2012	Singaporean	Singapore PR	Foreign Student
Total Tuition Fee S$
Student pays S$
% Govt subsidy

<TBODY>
[TD="align: right"]33,570[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]35,440[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]38,740[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]7,170[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]9,040[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]12,340[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]78.6%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]74.5%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]68.1%[/TD]

</TBODY>

From this example, one can see that the PAP government does not mind giving large tuition fee subsidies to foreigners, including Singapore PRs.
It remains to be seen how much NUS is going to increase its tuition fees for Singaporean students this time, for the new intake of academic year 2012-2013.