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Finance Matters: Ministry of Education Financial Assistance Scheme
Did you know that Singapore Citizens (SC) can acquire assistance from the Ministry of Education (MOE) financially for school? If your child is studying in a government, government-aided, specialised or independent school and you need help in covering some of the school fees and expenses, you may be eligible for some form of financial assistance! In this article, we would be primarily covering the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) which is for children studying in a government or government-aided school, autonomous government or government-aided school or specialised school.
As for children studying in an independent school, NUS High School of Mathematics and Science or School of Science and Technology, you may want to approach the school directly to apply for the MOE Independent School Bursary (ISB) scheme instead! And not forgetting students attending Singapore Sports School or School of the Arts, you aren’t left out. However, MOE FAS and MOE ISB will be not applicable to you and you could approach the school directly for any school-based financial assistance schemes! Lastly, students studying in Institutes of Higher Learning will have a separate article covering MOE’s financial assistance for them. (Keep a lookout for the next article on that!)
Am I Eligible For This?
Alright so the first step will definitely be finding out if you’re eligible to get MOE FAS for your child! As mentioned earlier, SC children who study in government or government-aided schools will definitely be the first criteria. Also, you have to meet either of the income requirements. It’s either to have a monthly Gross Household Income (GHI) of $2750 or less, or a monthly Per Capita Income (PCI) of $690 or less. PCI would be calculated by dividing the monthly GHI by the number of people living in the same household! This is so that students who come from larger families will also be able to benefit from the MOE FAS scheme. If you’re unsure what or what to not include in the calculation of GHI or PCI, do check with MOE directly!
If in the event that your child does not meet the income limit and hence ineligible for MOE FAS, please do not worry. You can approach your child’s school as the school will still be able to consider your child for their own school-based FAS. Your child’s school will never leave you alone in this if you really need help!
How Do I Go About Applying?
So let’s say you realised you’re eligible for the MOE FAS, you may download the application form from the MOE Website or approach the school for a copy. All you need to do after that is submit the form with every necessary document to the school directly. If you have more than 1 child in a different government or government-aided school, you may just submit 1 application form with both your children’s names to just one of the schools! Convenient right? After that, just wait for the child’s school to inform you on the outcome of your application! It will be processed quite fast so if everything is in order, the FAS will take effect from the following month.
Just a short note, you’ll have to submit your application yearly if you’d like to have MOE FAS again. This is because the yearly FAS is granted up till December of each year. This is because in the blink of a year, many circumstances might change in your family financial situation – you might or might not need MOE FAS anymore!
What Assistance Would I Get?
Alright it’s time to get to the details about what you would possibly gain from applying for MOE FAS. The MOE FAS coverage for Primary, Secondary and Junior College level are all slightly different so let’s do them one by one ya.
For Primary School, the MOE FAS will cover a full subsidy of school fees and $6.50 per month for standard miscellaneous fees (which means that you need to cover for the second-tier miscellaneous fees – but the Edusave Account can cover that!). Your child will also be entitled to free textbooks and school attire depending on each school. Not only that, they will get a $2 meal subsidy ticket for meals in school for a maximum of 7 meals per school week! Lastly, your child will be entitled to ONE of the transport subsidies: either 60% of school bus fares per year, $15 transport credit every month for public transport. But do note that there will be NO reimbursement for purchases you have made or school fees payment for your child prior to the instating of the MOE FAS.
For Secondary School, the MOE FAS will cover a full subsidy of $5 per month for school fees and $10 per month for standard miscellaneous fees (which means that you need to cover for the second-tier miscellaneous fees – but the Edusave Account can cover that!). Your child will also be entitled to free textbooks and school attire depending on each school. Not only that, they will get a $2.90 meal subsidy ticket for meals in school for a maximum of 10 meals per school week! Lastly, your child will be entitled to $15 transport credit every month for public transport. But do note that there will be NO reimbursement for purchases you have made or school fees payment for your child prior to the instating of the MOE FAS.
For Junior College, the MOE FAS will cover a full subsidy of $6 per month for school fees and $13.50 per month for standard miscellaneous fees (which means that you need to cover for the second-tier miscellaneous fees – but the Edusave Account can cover that!). Your child will also be entitled to $15 transport credit every month for public transport. Lastly, they will receive $1000 bursary money per year. But do note that there will be NO reimbursement for purchases you have made or school fees payment for your child prior to the instating of the MOE FAS.
If It Isn’t Enough, What Should I Do?
If with the MOE FAS, you still see yourself struggling to make ends meet in the household, here are some ways you can try to get more help.
On top of benefitting from the MOE FAS, you may approach your child’s school to acquire more on the possibilities of being granted school-based FAS as well. While every family is different, the decision of the school will be based on each individual case and there is no one solution to assistance.
Additionally, if you require specifically a computer in the household but are unable to foot the high bill, you may apply for a subsidised computer with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Under the NEU PC Plus Programme, each eligible household is allowed to apply for 1 computer (regardless of how many children there are) once every 3 years! Do fill this segment up in the MOE FAS Application Form if you’d like to get this.
All in all, as a Singapore tuition agency, FamilyTutor wants to emphasize that if you need help you got it! Never suffer in silence, instead reach out for the available resources provided by the government. Stay safe!
By the way, the ‘Simply Advice’ series conveniently gives you information that is useful any day any time. It aims to shed some light on pertinent topics and provide you with the best advice.
Zoe
Zoe is an undergraduate student in Singapore who loves thinking deeply and translating them into writing. She hopes her reflective opinions and sound advice weaved into relevant articles will be useful for you in one way or another!
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