Only 15 Malay students from UniSIM will benefit from Mendaki’s Fee Subsidy

We refer to the article “Committee to spearhead fund-raising efforts for Yusof Ishak Professorship at NUS” (Straits Times, Aug 26).

Only 15 students qualify?

It states that “He also said that an estimated 15 Malay/Muslim students at UniSIM will also be able to benefit from Mendaki’s Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy for needy students in full-time courses. The scheme, he revealed, has recently been extended to them.

“I sincerely hope this will help and encourage more of our youths to pursue their passions and interests through tertiary education,” said Dr Yaacob.”

So few Malay/Muslim students?

We were rather curious as the number of 15 Malay/Muslim students seemed kind of low.

According to UniSIM’s Annual Report 2013 – there were 13,369 students. So, is the number of 15 Malay/Muslim students qualifying for Mendaki’s Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy for needy students in full-time courses – kind of low?

How many of the 13,369 students were Malay/Muslim students?

How many of these were in full-time courses?

Why is the  Mendaki’s Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy for needy students – restricted to students in full-time courses only.

Why take so long?

As to “The scheme, he revealed, has recently been extended to them” – Why was the scheme not given to them in the past? Why did it take so many years to decide to support such students, given as we understand it that the funds available had surpluses – which we understand in some years went into the reserves?

Since the number of eligible students is so small – the total sum and funding required must be very affordable. So, why was such funding not made available earlier?

In this connection, in our volunteer work doing financial counselling – we have come across Malay-Muslim families who had financial difficulty in pursuing studies at UniSIM.

Singapore Malays undertake self-help

In this connection, in the late 1980s, the Singapore government’s responsibility for the free tertiary education programme for Malays, a relic from the Federation of Malaya years, was transferred to Mendaki, Singapore’s Malay community self-help group.

The Singapore government gave Mendaki a one-time starter sum to set up the Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy. Instead of giving free education to all Malays, this subsidy paid 100 percent of fees for families whose monthly income is below $2,000 and 70 percent of fees for families whose monthly income is between $2,000 and $3,000 (These have been revised recently to enable more students to qualify) .

This move represented a significant step in eliminating perceived Malay dependence and in fostering community responsibility. It also allowed the Singapore government to shed itself of a pre-independence political anachronism that had become increasingly expensive with growing Malay tertiary enrollment.

Mendaki may need to cut programmes?

According to Mendaki’s chairman last year, it will likely run a deficit after expanding the reach of its Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy (TTFS). To finance this deficit, it may need to cut some of its social and education programmes three years from now, or dip into its reserves.

Mendaki’s financial situation

According to Mendaki’s 2011 annual report, it had a net income of $14.1 million, an increase of 72% over the previous year’s $8.2 million. Its Total Funds and Reserve was $95.8 million, which was 24% more than 2010’s $77.4 million. Given the above healthy financial situation, we had urged Mendaki not to cut back on its programmes, as the Malay community is behind the other communities in all economic and social measurements of attainment. (“Give more funds to Mendaki“, Jul 20)

TTFS funded by Government, but may need to dip into reserves?

We were somwhat puzzled by the Minister’s reply (in Parliament) : “Sir, the revised eligibility criteria which have taken effect this year will not affect Mendaki’s financial provision for TTFS. This is due to how the Government grant is computed each year. In fact, the revised criteria means that more Malay students are now eligible compared to the past.” – It seems to be somewhat self-contradictory because if the funding comes from the Government and ‘will not affect Mendaki’s financial provision for TTFS’, why did the Minister say to the media in June last year, just about three weeks before his reply in Parliament, that some social and education programmes may have to be cut and that Mendaki may have to dip into it’s reserves?

As to “Previously, only Malay students from a family with a monthly household income of $3,000 and below qualify. With the introduction of the per capita income in the new criteria, Malay students in a typical four-member household with a monthly income of $6,000 and below would now qualify. Mendaki expects about 7,000 new and existing students to apply for TTFS this year.”

We understand the income eligibility criteria has not changed for about a decade or so until last year, despite rising university tuition fees, cost of living and university education expenses. (“Is Mendaki TTFS fully funded by Govt?“, Jul 31, 2013)