This post is all about freshman year of university life.
Transitioning from the rigid education system in junior college to university can be extremely daunting. But fret not if you're feeling confused, frustrated, and stressed out because I am here to help!
After one year of being in university, it's safe to say I have learnt a lot. Having been in the same position as you last year, I know how scary it can be going into university without anybody to handhold you. There were so many things that I didn't know going into NUS because no one told me what to do upon the receipt and acceptance of my offer letter. Sooo...I compiled a list of things I wish someone had told me to do before I entered my freshman year in university!!
1. Applying for accommodation
As NUS is located on the southwestern side of Singapore, the daily commute might take up a considerable portion of your time. This is why many undergraduates apply to stay on campus. Apart from this practical reason, others choose to apply for on-campus accommodation to experience the once in a lifetime experience of staying in a hall or residential college (RC).
There are 3 main types of accommodation in NUS for undergraduates - halls of residence, residential colleges (RCs) and student residences. Just a very brief comparison, I would consider halls to be the HDB equivalent of the housing we have, and RCs and student residences the condominium equivalent of housing in Singapore. As you can already tell from the comparison, RCs and student residences are the more premium choice of accommodation, halls are the cheaper alternative for students on a budget, but still want to experience living in school. The prices also reflect such a difference.
One key thing to note is that halls and RCs, unlike student residences, offer a compulsory meal plan which you have to pay for in addition to hostel fees you pay for staying. So do factor that in when deciding whether or not to stay on campus, and which type of accommodation to stay at.
Another thing is that even though RCs are more expensive than halls, you may opt to stay in RCs because it's a guaranteed 2-year stay as students living in RCs have RC modules to clear within the 2 years. This is unlike halls, where the number of hall points is what determines whether or not you get to stay on campus in subsequent years, and the only way around this is to have a talent and apply for Master's List.
Halls
The different halls each have different areas of specialty and their own unique culture. For example, EH and TH are well known for their sporting culture and inter-hall games (IHG) is one of the highlights for those staying in these halls.
Eusoff Hall (EH)
Kent Ridge Hall (KR)
King Edward VII Hall (KE7)
PGP House (PGPH) - different from PGPR
Raffles Hall (RH)
Sheares Hall (SH)
Temasek Hall (SH)
RCs
Cinnamon (USP) College
Tembusu College (Tembu)
College of Alice & Peter Tan (CAPT)
Residential College 4 (RC4)
Ridge View Residential College (RVRC)
Student Residences
PGP Residences (PGPR) - different from PGPH
Ultimately, no matter which type of on-campus accommodation you choose to apply, you will probably have the best time of your life! So head on over to the official website for the application guide and application portal for students without NUS student card and students with NUS card to apply to your choice of accommodation!
2. Financing your university education
You must've looked at the tuition fees and gotten a shock right! That was me too!! Approximately $10,000 on tuition fee!!! What a huge price tag to pay for obtaining a university education. Multiply that by 4 years if you're in a 4-year, direct honours program gives about $40,000 of tuition fee you have to pay to get that degree certification!
While some are smart enough to obtain a scholarship, or better still, lucky enough to have the luxury of having their parents pay for their university tuition fees, most of us have to finance it ourselves in one way or another. I'll be giving my two cents on the topic of financing your university education as a student without a scholarship.
First things first, check your eligibility for financial aid and apply if you meet the requirements! There really isn't any reason why you shouldn't give it a shot because any form of financial aid to alleviate the burden of student debt is always welcomed!! Whether or not you have secured financial aid, there would still be tuition fees remaining for you to pay.
Being the blur income freshmen I was, I applied to pay for tuition fees using my father's CPF through the CPF education scheme like most other university kid would.
However, I must say I deeply regret this decision because if I had done more thorough research, I would have applied for the MOE tuition fee loan instead and save on the interest during my first year of studies. I have just applied for the MOE tuition fee loan through the bank and am waiting for my application to be processed. Fingers crossed that all goes well and I can revoke the use of my father's CPF for my education and use the tuition fee loan scheme for the remaining 3 years of university tuition fees!!
The main reason for this is that the MOE tuition fee loan is interest-free during the course of study. This means that you can take advantage of the interest-free loan and save on the interest you would otherwise accrue under the CPF education scheme, which starts compounding interest as soon as the money is withdrawn from the CPF account.
Just a quick note, while MOE tuition fee loan only covers up to 90% of the subsidised tuition fee payable by Singaporeans, you can fund the remaining 10% of your tuition fee with NUS study loan.
Nonetheless, if you are unable to / do not intend to repay your student loan as soon as possible, using the CPF education might still be the better option as the interest rates are usually lower than that offered by banks, and in the long-run, even though it's not interest-free during the course of study, you still end up paying less in interest expenditure. Check this out for a comparison between CPF education scheme and MOE tuition fee loan scheme.
Tuition fee loan application deadlines
I hope you have found this post useful! If you did, do share this post and comment on what you want me to cover in future posts!
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