Singapore Budget 2024 - Get monthly allowance and subsidies when you upgrade

• Starting in 2025, Singaporeans aged 40 and above get help to study full-time at polytechnics, ITE, and art institutions (Only if you have up to secondary education, N level or O level)

• If they choose specific full-time courses, they also get a monthly training allowance (cool!)

• The allowance is half of their average income over the last year, capped at $3,000 per month.

• This means if you earn $5000 on average, you get $2500 allowance but if you earned $7000, you will get only $3000 only (not $3500, ouch)

• Each person can get this allowance for up to 24 months in their lifetime.

• DPM Lawrence Wong says it covers the full time of the SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme and more than half the time of most qualifications from Singapore's higher learning institutes.

• Take action: start looking for full time courses starting in 2025.
  
  However.....

• If you've already gotten subsidies or government support for a diploma or higher education, you can't get another subsidized full-time diploma in Singapore.

• The training allowance is for mid-career workers doing full-time training (part-time and gig not included) to help with the income loss from taking time off work.

• Eligible individuals can get this allowance from early 2025 when they enroll in certain training programs.

Here are some statistics for Singaporeans with diploma or higher education in 2023:

Overall:

• Percentage with post-secondary qualifications (among residents aged 25 years & over): 63.1% (males: 66.3%, females: 60.3%)

• Mean years of schooling (among residents aged 25 years & over): 11.7 years (males: 12.0 years, females: 11.4 years)
  

Graduates (2023):

• Annual output of university graduates: 20,807 (increase of 5.3% compared to 2021)

• Annual output of polytechnic graduates: 23,577 (decrease of 7.3% compared to 2021)

Source

• Education Statistics Digest 2023: https://www.moe.gov.sg/about-us/publications/education-statistics-digest

• Singapore Yearbook Of Manpower Statistics 2023: Training and Higher Education: https://stats.mom.gov.sg/Pages/Manpower-Statistics-In-Brief-2022.aspx

• Education, Language Spoken and Literacy - Latest Data: https://www.singstat.gov.sg/publications/reference/ebook/population/education-and-literacy

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