Tuition Fee Increases at Tertiary Institutions

Mdm Speaker, MOE seeks to keep tertiary education affordable and accessible to our students, by providing significant subsidies for all students and by providing a range of financial assistance. The Government provides substantial subsidies for tertiary education, at about 75% and 85% of the total education cost at the Universities and Polytechnics respectively.

Over the past five years, from 2009 to 2013, costs at the publicly-funded tertiary institutions have increased on average by about 4% per year. In contrast, fee adjustments for these institutions have been modest over the same period. Under the cohort-based fee system, undergraduates pay the same fees throughout the duration of the course. The average annual fee increases were lower, at 1% to 1.6% per year for each student cohort for the bulk of the courses.

Page: 48

Polytechnic fees, which are lower, rose by $50 or about 2% on average over the past five years.

We review and adjust the tuition fees on an annual basis, taking into account the cost of delivering quality tertiary education, while mindful of the prevailing economic situation. Where economic conditions have been difficult, the tertiary institutions have deferred fee increases, such as in Academic Year (AY) 2009 due to the economic downturn. The fee increases help institutions to partially defray rising costs. The revised fees compare favourably with overseas tertiary institutions.

From AY2014, the Polytechnics will adopt the cohort-based fee system. This means that the student will pay the same fees for the entire duration of the course. This is a significant change, as the fee structure provides tertiary students with greater certainty regarding tuition fees and helps them to better plan the financing of their studies.

MOE periodically reviews the Government financial assistance schemes to ensure that these are adequate for Singaporean students in need. MOE is significantly enhancing the Government bursaries from AY2014 for students studying at tertiary institutions. With the enhancements, the household per capita income cut-off to qualify for the Government bursaries has been raised from $1,700 to $1,900 per month. This means that more students will qualify for the bursaries. The bursary quanta have also been increased by between $200 and $700. With these changes, undergraduates can receive up to $3,600 per annum and Polytechnic students can receive up to $2,000 per annum, depending on their household income.

Besides Government bursaries, there are also other financial assistance schemes offered by the tertiary institutions, foundations, private and professional organisations, community groups and self-help groups. Students can, therefore, tap on a range of financial assistance schemes.

With the Government subsidies and the range of financial assistance schemes, a Singaporean student from the bottom two-thirds of households by income, for instance, need not worry about direct cash outlay, as up to 100% of the tuition fees and a portion of living expenses can be covered through a combination of financial assistance and Government loans. Students from the 75th and 90th percentile can similarly tap on such loans to finance the bulk of their education cost, which are interest-free during the course of study.

Page: 49

Thank you, Mdm Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister whether the Universities can do more to cap the cost increases in delivering quality tertiary education.

I would like to assure the Member that the Universities are mindful of keeping their operations efficient. And in fact, management of cost is always an important issue which the councils of the Universities have been looking at and will continue to do so.