SDP proposes interest-free student loans for S’poreans

[Ralders]

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has released its education policy proposal paper on July 13, 2019, as it gears up for the upcoming General Election due by April 2021.

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SDP proposes interest-free student loans for S’poreans
Policy paper open to public scrutiny and debate as SDP flexes its policy-writing chops.
Sulaiman Daud |

July 14, 05:50 am
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The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has released its education policy proposal paper on July 13, 2019, as it gears up for the upcoming General Election due by April 2021.
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The hefty 105-page policy paperconsists of seven chapters, and serves as part-flex and part-dare, as it demonstrates the policy-proposing chops of the party and its leadership.
It is part of an ongoing series of policy proposals put forth by the party since March 2019.
The document is recommending changes at every education level from early childhood to tertiary, as the opposition political party is proposing a near-overhaul of the current national system.

The policy paper launch was presented by SDP chairman Paul Tambyah, as well as Benjamin Pwee, former secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party, but who is now a SDP member.
Current education system can be improved
SDP said it believes the education system formulated by the current government, made up of the incumbent ruling People’s Action Party, essentially needs to shift focus.
Some changes mooted include channelling education outcomes to meet the creative and innovation needs of a 21st-century economy, as well as redistributing resources that are supposedly disproportionately benefiting the elite, thereby worsening inequality.
How feasible and justified the proposals are is open for debate, praise and ridicule, as the paper is made available to the public for scrutiny.
Here are some of the changes the SDP mooted.

 

[whoami]

Citizens main concern are their hard earned money. If releasing our hard earned money in CPF mention in their manifesto then i will vote them.

 

[Leongsam]

Typical leftwing retard who is quite happy to give away free money that doesn't belong to them in the first place.

There is no such thing as "interest free". Someone is paying the interest. If it's not the recipient it's you the taxpayer.

 

[mojito]

Take your own money for on CPF have to pay interest lor. Where got interest free loan you tell me? Oppies raiding the reserves again!

 

[SeeFartLoong]

Countless bastards will flee with loan or fail to pay as they gone bankrupt or die of e.g. suicide.

Ban education pse!

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Actually this interest free loan etc is just 1 part of the equation. Economic opportunities for all is even more important. If education is the be all and end all like the way asians always believe than all degree holders should be millionaires and jobs chase them. But how come the unemployment rate amongst the fresh grads etc is the highest? and how come those above 40 etc have difficulty gaining meaningful employment? its the immigration policy and the economic policy that is making things for the educated much worse.

So without structural changes to government policy, free uni courses is just useless.

A better option would be...abolish the scholarships given to foreign students. and use that 100 million plus to give scholarships and bursaries to local students. have a fund to help students from poor families get properly educated. Place increased emphasis on the trades like construction, cabinet making, plumbing, electrician etc,.,,no developed nation can survive without trades people.

Cut down the supply of foreign labour into the country. alot of the trades are done and controlled by mudlanders in singkieland,,,and bcos of that,,,local tradies find it hard to get work due to the discrimination policy, by preventing access to these mudlanders, employers etc will be forced to hire local. These businesses will counter by saying they will leave singkieland,,but these industry is strictly 100% domestic market,,they go they loose access. and trades are always and internal demand thing,,,electrician has to go to your house to fix things,,,cannot repair by just remote control,,,if the local workforce is higher paid and more professional and more efficient and productive, there will be more spending within the economy hence restaurants and other service industries etc will have a base population to work with.

Singkieland spends billions on infrastructure every year,,,if the locals get a bigger slice of this pie, it will reduce alot of inequalities that is happening now.

With the doors shut on the external supply of labour, than trades and uni grads etc will have better employment opportunities. any sector that is lacking or have human resource issues, technology can mitigate the gap etc. That way this gives the local grads more opportunities and it will make loans etc to students etc viable, because grads etc will have real opportunities,,,uni degrees etc should never be viewed as a be all and end all like the way it is now. I hence disagree with the SDP and recommend that they focus on the structural economic issues and government human resource policy 1st

 

[tanwahtiu]

There will be no young kuaybu in Geylang.... cannot..... poor must remain poor... bring back BE monopoly of Opium Trade in Sinkieland...

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Countless bastards will flee with loan or fail to pay as they gone bankrupt or die of e.g. suicide.

Ban education pse!

From next year you'll be paying back your student loans sooner

TUESDAY 14 AUGUST 2018 5:23PM

By Shalailah Medhora

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It's official: from July 1 next year you'll have to pay back your HECS and HELP loans as soon as you start earning $45,800 a year.
At the moment, you have to earn $52,000 before you start paying off the tax man.
But this isn't the first time the threshold has been lowered. Just a couple months ago, the threshold was even higher - $56,000 a year.
So what does that mean for you?
If you earn $45,881, you'll have to pay one per cent of your income - $458.81 a year - towards paying off your student loan.
The rate gradually increases the more you earn, to a maximum rate of 10 per cent for people who earn $134,000 or more.
Heated debate over changes
The legislation passed through the House of Representatives today, after scraping through the Senate with the slimmest of margins last night - 34 votes in favour, 33 against.
"This is a very steady and careful change to the HELP repayment threshold," Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham told Hack.
Minister Birmingham said the changes would mean "future generations of students are able to access the same generous student loans scheme without upfront fee".
With Labor and the Greens against lowering the repayment threshold and the Coalition for it, it fell to the crossbenchers (that is, independent or small party senators) to decide on the legislation.
In an unusual twist, Nationals Senator Steve Martin voted against his own party's legislation. The Nationals are part of a formal coalition with the Liberal Party - and the Coalition is in government at the moment.
Crossing the floor, as it's called, is not that common, but Senator Martin said he's always been upfront about opposing the changes.
"It is my concern that any reduction to the HECS-HELP repayment threshold would, in effect, be a disincentive to students, especially those from lower socio-economic backgrounds," Senator Martin said."
Students are one of Australia's most precious resources and we should invest in them."

One in seven uni students skipping meals to stay afloat
"People on income support are living well below the poverty line."
Several smaller parties had amendments to the legislation. One Nation wanted the repayment threshold lowered to just under $30,000 - that's less than minimum wage, which comes in at around $37,300 a year.
Derryn Hinch called that proposal "cruel, blinkered and even obscene".
He wanted the repayment threshold raised to $50,000, and was one of the few crossbench senators to vote with Labor and the Greens in opposing the legislation.
[Lowering the threshold to $45,800] is plainly unfair, and, I believe, unjust.
Labor said the Government was looking for savings in the wrong places.
"On the day it was revealed one in seven students are going without food, the Liberals passed a law that will force lower income earners to pay back their student loans sooner," Shadow Education Minister Tanya Plibersek told Hack.
"All while Malcolm Turnbull wants to give $17 billion to the big banks - his priorities are all wrong."
The Greens said the measures makes it harder for young people to get ahead in life.
"The fact is, if you want a better job, you need a university education. And young people shouldn't be punished for wanting to get a foothold on their adult lives," Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Typical leftwing retard who is quite happy to give away free money that doesn't belong to them in the first place.

There is no such thing as "interest free". Someone is paying the interest. If it's not the recipient it's you the taxpayer.

Documents reveal the Government looked at recovering HELP loans from deceased estates
By national education reporter Natasha Robinson and FOI editor Michael McKinnon
Updated 14 Jun 2019, 2:10pm

PHOTO: At least $20 billion in student debt is forecast to be written off. (AAP)
RELATED STORY: As the banks tighten their belts, should you think about paying off your HELP debt?
RELATED STORY: From next year you'll be paying back your student loans sooner
RELATED STORY: How income sharing could help solve the student debt crisis at a price
A plan to recover the student debts of people who have died was under consideration by the Federal Government, documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information reveal.

The Federal Education Department estimated the move could save taxpayers $46 million over a decade, but it acknowledged it would be controversial.

The Government eventually rejected the proposal.

So, what happens to the unpaid debt?
The Government is owed $55 billion by people who accessed the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), and at least $20 billion of that debt is forecast to be written off.

Under the current law, if a person does not pay off all money they owe under HELP before they die, that debt is wiped.

The documents show the Government has written off the student debts of 9,000 people who have died over the past 25 years, at a cost to taxpayers of $80 million.

A further 18,000 people with student debts are expected to die over the next 10 years.

What are students signing up for exactly?
The repayment of HELP debt is the last thing on the mind of many students when they sign up for the Commonwealth assistance, and it's not helped by the fact the official form students must complete when requesting a loan gives few details.

Paying back your student debt, explained

While it might feel like a burden, taking on debt to study often pays off in the long run. But it's still important to keep your debt in check.


On a Request for Commonwealth Support and HECS-HELP form, for instance, students tick a box that merely states: "I understand that I will repay to the ATO the amount that the Commonwealth has loaned to me. These repayments will be made in accordance with Chapter 4 of the Act, when my income reaches a certain level, even if I have not completed my studies. I understand my HELP debt will be indexed annually in line with the Act."

No doubt few students would take the time to consult the Act referred to — the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

The Act spells out the percentage of student debt that must be repaid once an individual reaches the income threshold for repayment.

And once that threshold is reached, the amount that comes out of a graduate's pay packet can come as a shock.

Backbenchers push for change
Under a proposal drawn up by federal bureaucrats in 2017, HELP debts "would be treated in the same manner as other government debts such as tax debts" and recovered from deceased estates.

But the Education Department estimated only 10 per cent of that money would be recovered in the short term.

The policy proposal said:

"There are risks associated with the negative reaction from the Australian community to the collection of debt upon death that would otherwise not be payable.
"It changes the income-contingent nature of the loan scheme.
"Existing debtors took out their loans on the understanding that any unpaid debt would be written off upon death."​

The administrative burden on the Australian Taxation Office would also be significant.

It was estimated the proposal would cost $12.4 million initially over the first five years to set up, with ongoing costs of $2 million per year after that.

Concern over the high amount of student debt that remained unpaid recently prompted the Federal Government to progressively lower the income threshold for HELP debt repayment.

In 2017-18 the threshold was $55,814, but that dropped to $51,957 in 2018-19, and from July this year the threshold will drop to $45,881.

But two then backbenchers, Liberal Ben Morton (now an assistant minister) and Labor MP Julian Hill, wanted the Government to go further, spearheading a push last year to recover HELP debts from deceased estates.

Despite the Government scrapping the proposal, the Grattan Institute's Ittima Cherastidtham said there was merit in the idea.

"We think HELP debt should be treated just like any other debt that you owe the Government," she said.

"Part of the reason it's controversial is that people think of this policy as being a version of inheritance tax. And inheritance tax is such a visceral topic for a lot of people.

"What we're saying though is it's not an inheritance tax. This is just a debt, and people repay their debt."

A spokesperson for the Federal Education Department said there were no plans to recover HELP debts from deceased estates.

"No attempt is made to recover a HECS-HELP debt from a deceased estate," the spokesperson said. "The Department has not been asked to make any change to this arrangement."

 

[sweetiepie]

KNN 1 thing is sinkie is very concern about loan interest but doesn't seem concern about the dubious paper and its course fees KNN gov should just declare interest free and quietly roll the interest to the course fees KNN

 

[syed putra]

Typical leftwing retard who is quite happy to give away free money that doesn't belong to them in the first place.

There is no such thing as "interest free". Someone is paying the interest. If it's not the recipient it's you the taxpayer.

Education for those who qualify should be free as they will be a asset to the economy in future.

 

[garlic]

Those who served NS, will not have to pay interest... how about that?

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Education for those who qualify should be free as they will be a asset to the economy in future.

Educational qualifications goes hand in hand with economic opportunities,,if not it is just useless...look at singkieland,,,majority fresh grads are unemployed,,,and in the usa,,,degree holders flipping burgers,,,

 

[whoami]

Talk abt education n jobs. Where are all the jobs vacancies? Other than cleaners n security jobs adv in ST? During the 80s classified adv for jobs in ST was alot. On saturdays thick as the holy book.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Those who served NS, will not have to pay interest... how about that?

Those who serve NS get it for free even better. N those that don't or have never serve do not get civil serpent jobs or hold public office

 

[realDonaldTrump]

anyone watched this scene?

 

[realDonaldTrump]

MOE spent $130M annually on foreign student scholarships and funding in 2014-2018 https://sg.news.yahoo.com/moe-spent-130-m-annually-on-foreign-student-scholarships-and-funding-in-20142018-091856674.html

 

[whoami]

MOE spent $130M annually on foreign student scholarships and funding in 2014-2018 https://sg.news.yahoo.com/moe-spent-130-m-annually-on-foreign-student-scholarships-and-funding-in-20142018-091856674.html

Garment doing the right thing. Tats y they've been around for 6 decades. No other oppie dare/willing to take over n govern sinkeland. Dont believe go ask WP.