BURSARY FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS (Raising of qualifying income ceiling)

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BURSARY FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

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(Raising of qualifying income ceiling): **

23.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Education since the Ministry has raised the qualifying family's monthly household income from $900 to $1,500 for families with 1 or 2 children and from $1,050 to $1,800 for families with three or more children for financial assistance and bursary for primary and secondary education, will the Ministry also consider raising the qualifying income to $1,500 for the newly introduced MOE bursary of $800 for university students.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: The household income ceiling for students to qualify for the newly introduced MOE bursary for university students is not lower than that for the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme for schools. In fact, the MOE bursary for university students effectively has a higher qualifying income ceiling.

The MOE Financial Assistance Scheme for schools has a qualifying gross monthly household income of $1,500 for 1-2 child families, or $1,800 for families with 3 or more children. It is targeted at the lowest 20% of households.

The MOE university bursary has a qualifying gross monthly per capita household income of $900. It is targeted at the lower 50% of households. If we take a four-member family comprising two parents and two children, a gross per capita household income of $900 translates to a household income of $3,600, which is more than double the qualifying household income of the financial assistance scheme for schools.

The lower income ceiling for students qualifying for MOE financial assistance in schools reflects the fact that school fees are much more heavily subsidised to begin with.

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