7,000 new & existing students expected to apply for tuition fee subsidy

SINGAPORE: Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said Mendaki expects about 7,000 new and existing students to apply for its Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy scheme (TTFS) this year.

The scheme is an educational subsidy covering the tuition fees of Malay students in tertiary institutions.

In the last four years, 2,000 were eligible for the scheme.

This year, the eligibility criteria will be relaxed, so more will stand to benefit.

Previously only Malay students from a family with a monthly household income of S$3,000 and below qualify.

With the introduction of per captia income and the new criteria, Malay students in a typical four-member household with a monthly income of S$6,000 and below would now qualify.

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said: "The scheme is quite benign in favour of students rather than towards the government or Mendaki. If you're into the scheme despite changes to your family income, you will continue to qualify. If you're out and there's a change in your family income and you qualify, you'll come in.

Dr Yaacob also added that initial calculations show there may be a chance that they have to dip into its reserves to maintain their other programmes.