All 6 Autonomous Universities (AUs) will freeze tuition fee increases for the Academic Year 2020 (AY2020), for Singapore Citizens1 enrolled in government-subsidised undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. As key national institutions with a public mission, the AUs are committed to ensuring the affordability of higher education for Singaporeans, especially during challenging times. Their move is in line with the one-year deferment of government fee increases announced recently under the Resilience Budget.
Undergraduate fees
With the freeze in fee increases, Singaporean undergraduate students in the AY2020 intake will pay the same fees as the AY2019 intake, for the duration of their course.2
Students from the AY2019 intake and earlier will continue to pay the same fees conveyed to them during admission. This is in line with the cohort-based fee system that usually applies to undergraduate studies.
Postgraduate fees
With the freeze in fee increases, Singaporean postgraduate students in the AY2020 intake will pay the same fees in their first year of study as the AY2019 intake. The AUs and MOE will review the fee schedule for the remaining course duration for this intake, before the start of AY2021.
Postgraduate tuition fees follow a fee schedule that is set at the year of admission, with pre-planned annual increases for the remaining course duration. For postgraduate students from the AY2019 intake or earlier, the pre-planned fee increases for AY2020 will be deferred, and they will continue to pay the AY2019 fees in AY2020.
Details of fees for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses will be released on the AUs’ respective websites by 3 April.
Ensuring the affordability of university education
In addition to the freeze in tuition fee increases for Singapore Citizens in AY2020, the AUs will step up efforts to reach out to students in financial need. Financial support will continue to be extended through a combination of government assistance and financial aid provided by the AUs. The AUs and MOE will monitor the situation closely and support our Singaporean students during this challenging time.
1 The freeze in tuition fee increases for AY2020 does not apply to Singapore Permanent Residents and International Students.
2 This is with the exception of Singaporean undergraduates enrolled in full-time general courses at the Singapore Institute of Technology and the Singapore University of Social Sciences, who will have their tuition fees reduced from $8,200 and $7,900 respectively to $7,500 in AY2020, as announced in August 2019. SUSS course fees are not cohort-based and fees are reviewed on an annual basis.
