All You Need To Know About MOE’s Financial Assistance Scheme.

Education is widely regarded as a basic human right all over the world, and the vast majority of the population on this planet believes that every child deserves having access to it regardless of their background and their financial situation.

However, despite this profound belief in the equality of opportunity, the reality is that many families simply cannot afford to send their children to school due to a lack of financial stability.

High-quality education is becoming more and more expensive by the day in all countries of the world and even at the primary level parents have to shell out large sums of money to give their children a chance to succeed in this highly competitive world.

Fortunately, to the great delight of those parents, the Singaporean government offers various financial assistance programs to those who need it. One of the most popular programs is the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS).

This article will provide you with the information you need to fully benefit from this program.

MOE Financial Assistance Scheme.

In order to sign up for the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme, you will need to get the application form from the official Ministry of Education's website or from your child’s school.

Next, you will need to fill out this form and submit it with the necessary supplementary documents. These documents must contain either your payslip or the employment letter which serves as proof of your income.

If you are self-employed you must include your latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment.

The documents should also include a declaration concerning the unemployed members of the household who are under the age of 62 that they are not involved in full-time studies or are under the National Service.

If your GHI (gross household income) is higher than $2500 but there are more than five members living in your house then you will need to include the NRIC of the members of the household. And if you have other children in the household who are dependent on you and they don’t have the NRIC then you will need to provide documents showing that they are indeed living with you.

If your child's application to the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme is accepted you will be contacted by the school.

The deadline is not something you have to worry about when it comes to the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme since parents can apply at any time. However, you should keep in mind that the Primary 6 students have to apply for financial assistance for their Secondary 1 after taking the PSLE.

The application can be submitted to the primary school. The staff will then process the documents and let the students know if they have been accepted into the program.

It is also worth noting that if your child is enrolled in university or polytechnic you can use your CPF to pay for their education.

Application Process

Now, what happens if you have two children studying in two different government schools?

Will you need to submit two different application forms to be accepted into the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme?

Well, the simple answer is no.

It is not necessary to submit two separate application forms if your two children are studying in government schools. Parents only need to submit one application for both of their children who study at government or government-aided schools.

Another thing parents are curious about is how soon the financial assistance takes effect after the submission of all the necessary documents. Once you have submitted all the required documents the school can start reviewing your application immediately.

If your application is accepted by the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme by the end of the month then it will be activated in the coming month. You should also keep in mind that although the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme finances your child's studies it doesn’t cover the additional miscellaneous fees.

For example, it doesn’t reimburse you for any school books you needed to purchase for your child so even if your child is the recipient of the financial assistance you will still have to pay for some things by yourself. However, it is not necessary to pay in cash since you can use your child's Edusave account for this purpose.

Furthermore, if you’re planning to move your child to a new government or government-aided school during the year you will not need to reapply for the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme.

Your child will remain a FAS recipient until the end of the school year. However, if you wish to continue receiving financial assistance from the government next year as well then you will need to reapply and prove that you are eligible all over again. If you decide to do so submit your application to your child’s current school so that they can process it as soon as possible.

Eligibility criteria

Starting from 1 April 2018 MOE Financial Assistance Scheme provides financial assistance to the students who meet one of two criteria laid out by the ministry.

The first criterion is that the gross domestic income (GHI) of the student's household shouldn’t exceed $2750 a month. The GHI is calculated by combining the income of all the household members regardless of the sources of this income (you can have multiple revenue streams; they will all be taken into consideration). But if the family is the recipient of a full-time national service allowance then this allowance will not be included in the calculation process for the GHI.

The second criterion is that the per capita income (PCI) of the family should not go over $690 per month. This is calculated by dividing the GHI by the number of household members.

The benefits of the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS)

It goes without saying that there are numerous benefits students from underprivileged families can get from the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme. These benefits include school bus subsidies, meal subsidies, and public transport subsidies. This year the yearly bursary for pre-university students will increase from $900 to $1000.

The subsidy amount also increases depending on the current year level of the child, and there are even some ways to get financial assistance if you are in need of a laptop to do home-based learning.

MOE Financial Assistance Scheme tenure.

All students who are recipients of the financial assistance can benefit from it until December of that year. If you wish to continue receiving financial assistance then you will need to reapply for the next year's program. This is due to the fact that the household income profile for the next year might be different.

If you want to check your eligibility for the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme then you can go to the Ministry of Education’s website and use the online eligibility checker.

You will need to fill in several compulsory fields such as the field stating your monthly household income, how many people there are in your family, and the school your child is attending. After providing this information the online eligibility checker will display your options.

You should also keep in mind that if your child is attending the School of Fine Arts or Singapore Sports School, you have to apply for financial assistance with the schools directly because they have their own financial assistance schemes.

There are also subsidies for children who are attending MOE kindergarten.

The MOE Financial Assistance Scheme enhancements.

Some enhancements were made to the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme on April 1, 2020. For instance, primary school to pre-university students eligible for the program will be able to receive higher public transport subsidies.

Also, primary school students will be receiving higher school bus subsidies and secondary school students will be receiving higher meal subsidies. Full-time Nitec and Higher Nitec students from middle-income and low-income families will be receiving $50-$200 more in annual cash bursary.

On top of that annual cash bursary, students from the lowest income tier will receive a 100% subsidy. Also, full-time and part-time undergraduate and diploma students will receive enhanced bursaries.

To conclude if you are struggling with your child’s education because of your difficult financial situation you shouldn’t be shy to seek help from government programs.

The Singaporean government is ready to help out and the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme is an excellent program that will help your child attend the school of their choice. The most important thing is to have all the necessary documents ready in order to avoid any complications during the application process.

If you are struggling with filling out the application form don’t worry; just reach out to the staff at your child's school, they will be able to help you with the process. So, as you can see your financial difficulties do not have to hold your child back from receiving high-quality education at a good school. The MOE Financial Assistance Scheme will help you set your child up for success.

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