You will build a funding plan for one course that combines credits, sponsorship, loans and savings.
By now Siti knows what her master's would cost in full, what her SkillsFuture Credit covers, and what her employer's bond would ask of her. What she doesn't have yet is a plan that says, semester by semester, where each fee payment comes from and how much she needs to save each month to meet it. This exercise builds that plan for one course. Allow about twenty-five minutes.
Write down the course's listed fee and how it is paid: in one sum, per semester, or per module. Then subtract, in order, any subsidy shown on the course page and any SkillsFuture Credit you will apply, as lesson 7.2, SkillsFuture Credit, subsidies and what they cover, set out.
The result is the net fee: what you still have to find. Add the other direct costs from lesson 7.1, such as materials, if you want them in the same plan, or note that they will come from your monthly budget.
Siti's part-time master's, with figures made up for the example, has a listed fee of S$42,000, paid in four semesters of S$10,500. There is no subsidy for this programme. She applies her S$500 of credit to the first semester. Her net fee is S$41,500. She will pay the S$1,500 of materials from her monthly budget over the two years.
If your employer will sponsor part of the fee, use the amount from the agreement and write the bond terms beside it: length, repayment rule and the cost of leaving at the halfway point, from lesson 7.3, Employer sponsorship and bonds, read before you sign.
If you are considering a loan, get the full cost in writing before you put it in the plan: the rate, whether it is flat or on a reducing balance, the fees, and the total repaid. Convert a flat rate to its EIR as How money works lesson 3.4, Calculate the EIR of a flat rate offer with the RATE function, showed. Then decide whether the loan is cheaper than the alternatives, which might be a later start date, a cheaper course or a longer saving period.
Siti's employer will pay half of each semester's fee, S$5,250 a semester and S$21,000 in total, with the two-year pro-rated bond from lesson 7.3. She decides not to borrow, because the remaining amount can be saved over the course's two years.
Subtract the sponsorship and any loan from the net fee. What's left is the savings goal. List each payment by the month it is due, then check month by month that your savings cover each one, the same way you checked the wedding in lesson 3.4.
Siti's share is the S$41,500 net fee minus S$21,000 of sponsorship, which is S$20,500. Her payments are S$4,750 in month 3, after her credit, and S$5,250 in each of months 9, 15 and 21. She already has S$4,000 set aside.
Spreading the remaining S$16,500 over the 21 months to the last payment gives about S$785.71 a month. Checking month by month, that just covers every payment, with almost nothing left after the last one. She rounds up to S$800 a month, which leaves her S$1,650 after the first payment and S$300 after the last.
A study goal doesn't live on its own. Open your goals sheet from lesson 1.4, Build your goals sheet, add the study goal with its target, date and monthly figure, and look at the total.
Siti's budget can save S$1,200 a month for goals. Her other goal is S$400 a month towards a home she and her partner plan to buy in a few years. With S$800 for the master's, the total is S$1,200, which fits with nothing to spare. She notes that the home goal takes priority if her income drops, and that she would defer the second year of the course rather than stop saving for the flat. That is the kind of trade-off module 8 deals with.
If your total doesn't fit, look at the levers in this plan before cutting another goal: a later intake, a part-time option, a cheaper course with similar value, more sponsorship, or a semester-by-semester decision to continue.
A finished study funding plan shows the listed fee, the subsidy and credit, the net fee, any sponsorship with its bond terms, any loan with its full cost, and the savings goal for the rest, with payment dates and a monthly figure that covers each payment. The study goal sits in your goals sheet beside your other goals. The activity asks you to build this for the course you priced in lesson 7.1.
Complete the study funding plan and add the remaining savings need as a goal in your goals sheet.
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