Extending Use of CPF Monies to Pay for Education in More Institutions

The following question stood in the name of Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef –

To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider allowing CPF monies of parents to be utilised for their children's education in institutions like SHATEC, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and LASALLE College of the Arts.

Mdm Speaker, the CPF Education Scheme was introduced in 1989 to enable members to tap on a portion of their CPF savings for tertiary education. However, the primary purpose of the CPF remains to help members save for retirement, housing and healthcare needs. Therefore, we have limited the usage of CPF funds for education to only full-time subsidised local tertiary education courses at approved publicly-funded tertiary institutions. This is so that we have assurance on the affordability and also, quality of these courses.

All full-time subsidised courses offered by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LASALLE are covered under the CPF Education Scheme. This comprises all full-time diploma courses offered by NAFA and LASALLE and degree courses offered by LASALLE in partnership with Goldsmiths' College, as well as the Music degree course offered by NAFA in partnership with the Royal College of Music. This means that parents can already use their CPF monies for their children's education in the above-mentioned courses.

Tertiary education courses that are not publicly subsidised, such as SHATEC's full-time diplomas, are not covered under the CPF Education Scheme.

MOM has no plans to expand the CPF Education Scheme beyond what is currently allowed, as it is important to preserve members' CPF savings for their retirement, especially in view of improving life expectancies. For students who may require financial assistance for their courses, we do encourage them to explore other avenues, including study awards and bursaries offered by the institutions, where available.

Mdm Speaker, I thank the Acting Minister for the answer. I would like to ask the Acting Minister two questions. First, should we not support young Singaporeans in pursuing their aspirations, even though some of the further education that they are trying to pursue here are not in full-time or subsidised public Universities, such as NUS and NTU?

Secondly, what might the other concerns be if the children promised and eventually do pay back into their parents' CPF? I understand the concern is about preserving enough money in their CPF for retirement. But should we not give them the flexibility while they are able to at this time, to help them pursue their dreams and aspirations and later on when they put the monies back to their parents' CPF, the monies of their parents are still pretty much intact for their retirement?

Mdm Speaker, I would like to thank the Member for the supplementary questions. All full-time subsidised undergraduate courses leading to a degree at our key educational establishments are covered under the CPF Education Scheme. The intent is, indeed, to support our young people as far as we can. However, we do need to remember the core purpose of CPF which is why we have decided to open up the space slightly but I think we do to manage that space.

Notwithstanding the assurance from children that they are able to repay their parents and so on, we do also have instances where there are issues arising from that. So, what I would say is that we do have many schemes available to support students who will need to pursue their various dreams and aspirations at the various institutions. For those that are not publicly funded, there are also various bursaries available as well.