Post-secondary school bursaries beefed up by additional S$50 million a year
SINGAPORE — More financial support will be given to post-secondary level students — from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to the universities — following enhancements to Government bursaries, which will see the number of students to benefit grow by about six times from 12,000 each year to 71,000.
Among the changes include raising bursary amounts between S$50 and S$400, with larger increases going to students from lower-income households.
The increase means that the maximum annual bursary quantum for ITE students will go up from the previous S$1,200 to S$1,400, while polytechnic students will receive S$2,350, up from S$2,000. Undergraduates will see the maximum sum go up from S$3,600 to S$4,000.
This will apply only to government bursaries, namely the Community Development Council or the Citizens’ Consultative Committee as well as the Ministry of Education (MOE) bursaries, announced Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung at the debate on his ministry’s budget on Tuesday (March 7).
And to extend the coverage of these bursaries, gross monthly household income will be included as one of two income criteria to assess eligibility, apart from the existing per capita income criterion.
On top of that, the income eligibility caps will also be updated based on the latest household income data and will be revised upwards, allowing more students to qualify.
And to enable the Government to provide more targeted help to students, there will now be four bursary tiers across all post-secondary education institutions (PSEIs). Previously, there were only three tiers for undergraduate and diploma students, while MOE provides four bursary tiers for ITE students.
The enhancements will cost the Government about S$50 million more per year, said Mr Ong.
