6-digit fees for place at international school - Singapore
Firms can pay UWC $200,000 for guaranteed space
By CHEW XIANG
(SINGAPORE) Demand for places at international schools in Singapore is showing no sign of letting up with some top institutions asking for six-digit fees in exchange for skipping the queue.
At the popular United World College South-east Asia (UWC), there are 1,939 youngsters on the waiting list for admission this August - in a school with a capacity of 2,870. Like most of the big international schools, it has no vacancies even for admission later this year, according to its director of admissions Jonathan Carter.
UWC’s second campus at Tampines will be ready only in 2010 and its interim campus at Ang Mo Kio will only take in students at the lower grades from September.
The school meanwhile has started a programme targeted at companies: it guarantees a place for the children of their expatriate employees for $200,000 each.
Tanglin Trust School, popular with expatriates from Britain, has a similar scheme offering places for $165,000.
Both are not-for-profit organisations. At UWC, the funds generated will be used to underwrite its expansion programmes, including the building of a second campus, increase the number of scholarships, expand teacher development programmes and establish an endowment fund, according to spokeswoman Joy Stevenson.
At the Singapore American School, there are 850 children on the waiting list. The school’s enrolment is 3,822 and there are currently no places available, according to spokeswoman Beth Gribbon.
It expanded its Woodlands campus in 2004 and was previously said to be looking to expand again, although Ms Gribbon has denied this.
Instead, the school is now taking applications only for children with US passports, or those whose parents work for US-based companies.
The Australian International School has 300 children on its waiting list, mainly at the primary school level, said Kim Douglas, its director of marketing and enrolment.
The school has about 1,800 students. It is constructing a new building at its Lorong Chuan campus to take in 840 more students. The building will be completed this year.
The long queues at international schools are closely watched by companies that hire expatriates with school-going children.
Mark Ellwood, managing director of consulting firm Robert Walters Singapore, said that the supply crunch ‘can affect decisions about relocation, especially if the children are at a critical age where examinations become important and places can’t be secured at the top schools straight away’.
Higher demand amid limited supply may not always result in higher fees, given that a number of international schools here are set up as non-profit organisations or educational charities.
But consulting firm Mercer’s Asean managing director Su-Yen Wong said that if the supply crunch does lead to higher tuition fees or companies having to pay a premium to guarantee a place for their employees’ children, then it ‘will increase the cost of doing business, and companies will find themselves having to re-assess the economics, should the supply of school places not increase to meet the demand’.
She said this will affect the plans of companies seeking to expand in Asia.
Mr Ellwood said that companies are reviewing expatriate benefit packages, although these reviews tend to focus on housing allowances, which have seen even more dramatic supply and cost problems.
And benefits are less generous now, said Roland Ruiz, managing director of Hay Group’s reward information services in Asia. ‘In the past, while it was true that many companies provided full payment for education costs for expat employees, more recently there is a noticeable trend to exclude or reduce payment for such a cost with the exception of highly critical hires.’
The lack of places at international schools is testament to the rising number of foreigners in Singapore, lured by a still strongly expanding economy. The number rose from 875,500 in 2006 to just over one million last year, according to Department of Statistics estimates.
For the moment, expatriates are also looking at enrolling their children in local schools, especially if the children’s education is not paid for by their employers.
Others are opting for the smaller international schools which have shorter waiting lists, for example, just 50 for ISS International School, which has a capacity of 700. Chinese International School, which has 210 students, has a ‘very short’ waiting list, and only for certain grades.
Source : Business Times - 18 Feb 2008
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