You will be able to build a funding plan for one course using credits, sponsorship, loans and savings.
Open the price sheet you made in lesson 7.1. Start a new page and write the course's listed fee at the top, with how it is paid: in one sum, per semester, or per module. Every other figure in the plan comes from that fee, and the payment pattern tells you when you need the money. The exercise takes about twenty-five minutes and covers one course.
A finished study funding plan shows the listed fee, any 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. Each payment has a date, and a monthly saving figure covers each one on time. The study goal then goes in your goals sheet beside your other goals.
Siti is doing a part-time master's (her figures are made up for the example). In earlier lessons she found the full cost, what her SkillsFuture Credit covers, and what her employer's bond would ask of her. She still has no plan for where each semester's payment comes from or how much to save each month.
From the listed fee, first subtract any subsidy shown on the course page. Then subtract any SkillsFuture Credit you will apply. The credit is used against the fee left after subsidies, and it can pay part or all of that fee. Lesson 7.2, "SkillsFuture Credit, subsidies and what they cover", explains this order. What remains is the net fee, which is the amount you still have to find. You can put other direct costs from lesson 7.1, such as materials, in the same plan. You can also note that they will come from your monthly budget instead.
Siti's listed fee is S$42,000, paid in four semesters of S$10,500. Her programme has no subsidy. She applies S$500 of credit to the first semester, so her net fee is S$42,000 - S$500 = S$41,500. Her S$1,500 of materials will come from her monthly budget over the two years of the course.
Add employer sponsorship only after you have checked the full cost of accepting it. Use the amount in the agreement and record the bond terms beside it: the length, the repayment rule, and the cost of leaving at the halfway point. Lesson 7.3, "Employer sponsorship and bonds, read before you sign", shows where to find these terms.
For a loan, get the full cost in writing before it goes in the plan. That means the rate, whether it is flat or on a reducing balance, the fees, and the total repaid. If the rate is flat, convert it to its EIR using the method in How money works lesson 3.4, "Calculate the EIR of a flat rate offer with the RATE function". Then decide whether the loan is cheaper than the alternatives: a later start date, a cheaper course, or a longer saving period.
Siti's employer pays half of each semester's fee, which is S$5,250 a semester and S$21,000 in total. This comes under the two-year pro-rated bond from lesson 7.3. She decides not to borrow because she can save the rest over the two years of the course.
Your savings goal is the net fee minus sponsorship and minus any loan. List each payment by the month it is due. Subtract what you have already saved and spread the remainder over the months up to the last payment. Then check month by month that your savings cover each payment, the same way you checked the wedding savings in lesson 3.4. If the figure only just works, round it up.
Siti's share is S$41,500 - S$21,000 = S$20,500. Her first payment is S$4,750 in month 3, which is S$10,500 - S$5,250 - S$500 after her credit. After that she pays S$5,250 in each of months 9, 15 and 21. To check: S$4,750 + 3 x S$5,250 = S$20,500.
She has S$4,000 set aside, so she still has S$16,500 to save. Spread over the 21 months to the last payment, S$16,500 / 21 comes to about S$785.71 a month. At that rate every payment is just covered, with almost nothing left after the last one. She rounds up to S$800 a month. This leaves her S$1,650 after the first payment (S$4,000 + 3 x S$800 - S$4,750) and S$300 after the last (S$4,000 + 21 x S$800 - S$20,500).
You need to check a study goal against everything else you are saving for. Add it to the goals sheet from lesson 1.4, "Build your goals sheet", with its target, date and monthly figure. Then compare the total with what your budget can save.
If the total does not fit, try the levers in this plan before you cut another goal:
a later intake a part-time option a cheaper course with similar value more sponsorship deciding semester by semester whether to continue
Siti's budget saves 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. Adding S$800 a month for the master's brings the total to S$400 + S$800 = S$1,200, which fits with nothing to spare. She writes down that the home goal comes first if her income drops. In that case she would defer the second year of the course rather than stop saving for the flat. Module 8 covers this kind of choice between goals.
The activity asks you to build this plan for the course you priced in lesson 7.1.
Fill in the study funding plan, then add the amount you still need to save as a goal in your goals sheet.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).