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Oral Answer by Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Acting Minister for Manpower & Senior Minister of State, National Development, to Parliamentary Question on Using CPF Monies for Children's Education

Notice Paper No. 156 of 2013 For The Sitting On 13 May 2013
Question No. 1143 For Oral Answer.

MP: Mr Yeo Guat Kwang

To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider allowing CPF monies of parents to be utilised for their children's education in institutions like SHATEC, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and LASALLE College of the Arts.

Answer:

  1. The CPF Education scheme was introduced in 1989 to enable members to tap on a portion of their CPF savings for tertiary education. However, the primary purpose of the CPF is to help members save for retirement, housing and healthcare needs, therefore we have limited the usage of CPF funds for education to only full-time subsidised local tertiary education courses at approved publicly-funded tertiary institutions. This is so that we have assurance on the affordability and quality of these courses.
  2. All full-time subsidised courses offered by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (“NAFA”) and LASALLE are covered under the CPF Education Scheme. This comprises all full-time diploma courses offered by NAFA and LASALLE and degree courses offered by LASALLE in partnership with Goldsmiths’ College, as well as the Music degree course offered by NAFA in partnership with the Royal College of Music. This means that parents can already use their CPF monies for their children’s education in the abovementioned courses.
  3. Tertiary education courses that are not publicly subsidised, such as SHATEC’s full-time diplomas, are not covered under the CPF Education scheme.
  4. MOM has no plans to expand the CPF Education scheme beyond what is currently allowed, as it is important to preserve members’ CPF savings for their retirement, especially in view of improving life expectancies. For students who may require financial assistance for their courses, we encourage them to explore other avenues, including study awards and bursaries offered by the institutions where available.