Polytechnic And ITE School Fees Hike
Students entering the polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will have to pay more for school from next year.
Here’s a breakdown of the new fees:
- Polytechnics: Singaporeans will pay an annual tuition fee of $2,900, up from the current $2,800.
- ITE: Full-time NITEC courses will go up by $20 for Singaporeans. PRs will pay $300 more and foreign students will pay about $900 more. School fees for Higher NITEC programmes remain the same.
Rising tuition fees aren’t new — The Straits Times reports that fee hikes of between 3 and 7% are the norm in polytechnics and ITE.
Students who need help can apply for financial aid from their schools. This will be especially useful for ITE students; some 70% of these students received some form of financial aid or scholarships in 2016.
The government maintains that higher education is significantly subsidised. Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim pointed out that ITE courses enjoy a subsidy of more than 90 per cent.
Featured image from RSP Architects.
