1. 3ublication:The Straits Times, p B4
late: 27 March 2010
deadline: Fee hike: NUS studentsmunion to increase bursaries
Fee hike: NUS students'
union to increase bursaries
THENationalUniversityof Singa-
pore Students' Union INussu) is
lookinginto increasingthe finan-
cial aid it offers to needy stu-
dents, following the recent like
m universityfees.
The union currently adminis-
ters two kinds of aid - a bursary
award worth $1,500, and a book
grant worth 8400. Typically, up
to 30 students receive help each
year.
Nussupresident Ho JunYitold
The Straits Times yesterday that
the unionis looking intoincreas-
ing both the quantum and the
number of bursaries it gives out.
There issuflicientmoney from
the interest on the amount in its
NUS Students' Fund to increase
the handout, he said. Details will
be released when the new univer-
sityterm starts inAugust.
"We are going to use the holi-
days (startingin May)to sit down
and work out the details," said
Mr Ho, 25, a fourth-year NUS
law student.
Thesix studenthostels in NUS
said they would also bs increas-
ing their bursaries. These bursa-
ries provide either full ox partid
subsidiesfor hostel fees.
News of the potential aid in-
creaseswas circulatedto NUS stu-
dents on Thursday night. It
formed part of a joint statement
on the fee hike issued by Nussu,
its 14 constituent clubs and the
committees of the sixhostels.
The statement marks the first
public response from studentson
the fee hilce.
The students' union of the
Nanyang TechnologicalUniversi-
ty said it would publish its stand
in the NTU student newspaper.
The Singapore Managenlent
University Students' Association
did not respond to queries from
The Straits Times,
TheNUS statementwasput to-
gether after dialoguebtween stu-
dent representatives and the
school's administration, said Mr
Ho. The one-page statement
made sevenpoints, including say-
ingthat the students understood
that the fee adjustment had al-
ready been deferred by one year.
University fees have been in-
creased almost yearly since 1991,
when theGovernment announced
that it would have more frequent
but smaller fee increases rather
than a hefty hike everyfew years.
The Nussu statement also
calledonNUS toincreasethebur-
saries offered by the university,
andto engage studentsmoreseri-
ously in futureschoolpolicies.
"This includes giving reasona-
ble noticeto studentsortheir rep-
resentatives, and to gather stu-
dents7input for deliberation be-
fore confirmation and announce-
ment of future school policies
that directly affect students," it
said.
Mr Ho added that the state-
mentwas not the end of the mat-
ter, and that Nussu was "still ac-
tivelycollating feedbackfromstu-
dents and engaging in dialogue
with the NUS administration".
For first-year arts and social
sciences student Bernard Chen,
the statement reflected some of
his sentiments, but he hoped the
uriion would pursue the issue of
student engagement further.
"I wouldlikemore transparen-
cy in how fee hikes are deter-
mined, so that future increases
can be more predictable," said
the 25-year-old, who will see his
fees go up by more than $ZOO in
August.
Source: The StraitsTimes O Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission requiredfor reproduction.