from
straitstimeInteractive
Dec 29, 2004
Polytechnics to up fees by $100 next
year
It is the first fee hike since 2001; ITE fees to increase by
$10
By Sandra Davie
EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT
POLYTECHNIC tuition fees are set to go up by $100 from the next
academic year after a three-year freeze.
The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) is also raising its
yearly fees by $10 from next June.
Around 50,000 students at the five polytechnics - Singapore, Ngee
Ann, Temasek, Nanyang and Republic - will pay $2,050 yearly when
the next academic year begins in April.
Mirroring a similar rise in fees at two universities, yesterday's
announcement marked the first fee hike for polytechnics since 2001,
when fees were raised by 8 per cent from $1,800 to $1,950.
Identical increases were postponed over the last three years
because of the economic downturn.
The five polytechnics said in a joint statement that the increases
were necessary to meet rising costs. The Government subsidises more
than 80 per cent of polytechnics' operating costs, but with the
total cost per student having gone up by 31 per cent between 2001
and this year, the fee hike was inevitable.
The institutions assured students that no one would be denied a
polytechnic education because of financial difficulties. They would
continue to provide a range of financial aid schemes, including
tuition fee loans and bursaries for the more financially-strapped
students.
Only a small percentage of polytechnic students receive help to
meet the costs of their education.
Earlier this year, Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said
that only 6 per cent of polytechnic students currently take a bank
loan to cover tuition fees, up to a limit of 75 per cent. The loan
is interest-free until the student graduates, after which the prime
interest rates of local banks apply.
The polytechnics did not have a figure on how many students receive
bursaries, which are usually given to students whose household
incomes are less than $1,500 a month. Singapore Polytechnic,
though, said that about 5 per cent of their students receive
help.
About one in four of ITE's 19,000 students gets assistance under
bursary schemes administered by the institute. ITE, which had until
now kept its fees at the same level since 1995, said it will
continue to offer help.
Polytechnic students interviewed said they had expected the fee
hike, after the recent announcement of increases by the National
University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological
University.
NUS and NTU undergraduates, other than those in dentistry and
medicine, will pay nearly 5 per cent more - an extra $280 a year -
when the academic year begins next August.
Two of the five polytechnic students interviewed said they would
have to take on more part-time jobs to help their parents meet the
costs.
Mr Roland Tan, 19, who is studying engineering at Singapore
Polytechnic, said: 'My father does not earn much as a factory
supervisor and besides me, he has my two younger sisters to put
through school. I have to look at giving more tuition to help him
out.'
