Update: Added additional responses from SL below:
A reader response to Tharman's $1k-a-month-can-buy-flat speech. Here is an excerpt of the SL's email to me:
"Normally I would not feel compelled to e-mail a personality, but I'm genuinely very, very offended by Mr. Tharman's remarks that a family could buy a flat with a household income of just S$1k. It is the situation my family is in at present, and I can assure you that it is completely insufficient, considering the rising costs of living and bleak employment outlook.My father is 54 this year, and as a single parent, he is raising my older brother and I. He has no savings anymore. Our mother passed away some time ago. Both of us are in tertiary education, and we hope to graduate as soon as possible to alleviate the costs. He is earning approximately 800 per month, and works daily as a labourer. A large portion of his CPF savings have gone towards the cost of our very small flat (of which I am aware is not truly ours, much like those 99-year leases on condominiums). I'd like to describe our living conditions as such: We live on one meal per day, and often this meal comprises of Maggi, or any other cheap substitutes that make up our kitchen cabinet. We have perhaps a bottle of coffee, a few tins of Campbell's, but we don't have proper meals. We haven't repaired anything substantially because it costs too much. As undergraduates, we are trying our best to keep up. Even with a student concession, it is expensive to travel (consider the cost of student concession for two individuals, especially on an income of approximately 800).
At this point, the amount allocated for Education under my father's CPF account is left with absolutely nothing, and we have already received notices from our respective schools warning that we would not be able to register for the next semester because our fees have not been paid (and neither of us are enrolled in private education/external correspondence courses). On his pay, we have struggled to afford textbooks, and any materials that we might need for specific projects. Right now, we can't even seem to afford our education.
One might suggest that a scholarship might be an answer, but in this case, we have already declined to accept the ones that we have applied to because we both decided that we were not ready to commit to a career on the basis of our financial situation, as opposed to genuine interest. Even then, it is difficult to meet the conditions that require that your guarantors earn a specific amount in case you default on your agreement with the firm/ministry.
We're trying really hard to keep up with the times, but it is getting increasingly difficult to remain optimistic about our chances of surviving once we graduate…"
An additional response from SL in the comments:
I feel that I have to respond to some of the comments:@Keef Li: We are both working part-time to alleviate the costs, and we have been paying for our own textbooks, but the cost of tuition fees, at one go, is something that's a little beyond us. We're hoping to be able to work it out over the rest of the semester. Also -we spoke to our father before we made our decision, we are not delusional.
Bursary-wise, it's a little hard for us to provide some proof of our father's income because he is an odd-job labourer and currently does not have CPF contributions. He is paid for odd jobs -we both don't really know how to document whatever it is he receives (800 is on a good month) when presenting the documents. We are both still planning to apply for bursaries available to help defray the costs; thank you for having linked us, regardless. To some extent both of us are trying not to trouble him unnecessarily.
All I'm trying to say is that Mr. Tharman's comments on flats being affordable to those in the low-income bracket fails to consider some other conditions when making the projection.
Another comment from SL:
One more point of clarification: @okgo is right, we were unable to meet the conditions stipulated by the ones we applied to simply because we could not find individuals willing to act as our guarantors in case we defaulted on our contracts. Even if we decided for these particular scholarships, we would not have been able to obtain it. It is only a point of consolation to us that we were not entirely interested in the offers.We were not able to make a sufficiently competitive application to some others. My brother is also graduating relatively soon, and we are optimistic that it will ease burdens currently placed upon my father. Realise that the entry is an excerpt, and there were other reasons that I highlighted when I said that it was 'difficult to remain optimistic', and these were related to certain policies that I am positive most of us are aware of.
@alccheong: Thank you for highlighting the page, I will look at it.
Thank you to those who have offered some form of help and/or advice, but my issue is genuinely not with affording my education (there are always means and ways as long as we are willing, and my brother and I are working together towards it. I apologise if my phrasing seems to point otherwise) as it is with the impression the Minister seems to have that it is a sustainable lifestyle. There are families in worse conditions that require our attention, and who do not have similar access to higher education.
