Uni student shocked after her parents told her to pay for her own tuition fees

SINGAPORE: A university student took to social media to share that she was shocked to hear her parents say they would no longer pay for her tuition.

“They keep telling me that other students also do this, and it’s very normal. Is it really very common for uni students to pay their own school fees??” the student asked on r/SGexams on Saturday (Feb 24).

The student explained that she was surprised by their statement because she remembered that they had savings set aside for her university fees.

“They gave reasons such as that this was to let me become more independent and that I have to give back to my family in some way via monetary means, etc etc,” the student wrote.

“This is the norm”

The other students in the online forum did not share her sentiments and agreed with her parents.

One individual said, “It’s very common for people to take CPF Education Loan/Bank Loans 🥲 In fact, I think its less common that parents are willing to cough up 20k-30k in CASH when they can use CPF for their children’s education.

I don’t know about your family’s financial situation, but I can never imagine asking my parents to fork out 20-30k for a degree that I want to pursue. Different backgrounds I guess.”

While another commented, “Yes, very common, in the form of loan from them usually. At least they are being upfront and didn’t say they’re sponsoring only to change story later. Same for poly fees usually.”

Others joined the conversation and mentioned that they, along with other people they knew, financed their own tuition through loans and grants.

One Redditor added, “Seems like the norm, a lot of people take DBS tuition fee loans for this reason. But normally your angpao money and such (NS pay especially) should be in a bank account that your parents set aside for you, for use for uni fees(even if your parents don’t give you additional funds) and spending money.”

Tuition Fee Loan

A university education usually comes with a hefty price tag that many students cannot afford. Fortunately, there are plenty of options to lower the overall cost of earning a degree, such as borrowing money for your education through student loans.

According to the Ministry of Education, students at polytechnics and autonomous universities can apply for a tuition fee loan to cover a certain percentage of their tuition fee.

The loan can cover up to 75% of subsidized tuition fees payable by polytechnic students and up to 90% of the subsidized Singapore Citizen tuition fees payable by university students.

The interest on this loan only starts to accrue once the student graduates or leaves the school. The maximum repayment period for loans taken out at the polytechnic level is ten years; for loans taken out at the university level, it is twenty years.

Read related: The Best Student Loans to Fund Your Education