Costs of studying abroad are soaring, but even more Singaporeans want to do so now than before

AS AN undergraduate at Japan’s Waseda University, Ng Kay Chyn was acutely aware of how much it cost her parents to give her the overseas education she wanted.

Four years of tuition cost about 6.2 million yen (S$58,670) in total. Food averaged about 25,000 yen per month – which means she spent an estimated 12.3 million yen over the whole duration of her studies in Japan, including rent, transport and bills.

To cut down on costs, Ng would often cook her meals in large batches, then split the food into several portions to eat over the next few days. 

She also looked out for wholesale supermarkets where groceries were sold cheaper prices and bought items such as smoked chicken and ham in bulk.

Ng only ate out once or twice a week, choosing instead to either pack sandwiches to school, or sustain herself on the bentos sold in school, which cost 450 yen to 600 yen per box. 

Said Ng: “I withdrew 30,000 yen in cash every month, (and) that’s my budget for the month.”

“At the end of every week, I put all the coins I accumulated in the tupperware,” she added, using the tupperware as her piggy bank. “And at the end of the year I deposited it into my bank account.”

In one of the years, she recalls having saved S$150 in coins. 

Despite having to live on a budget, Ng was exactly where she wanted to be.

“I didn’t want to be stuck in Singapore where almost 90 per cent of my schoolmates were going to further their studies,” said Ng, who graduated from Waseda last year and is now 26 years old.

“I was so tired of seeing the same things and same people every day.”

She is not alone. Interest in overseas universities is spiking among Singapore students, even as costs in major university markets have ballooned over the past few years.

Wanderlust

College admissions consulting firm Crimson Education said it observed an increase of nearly 70 per cent in applications in its 2022/2023 college application cycle, compared with two years ago.

Education consultancy IDP Singapore said that enquiries to study abroad, up till June, are about two times that of the same period in 2022, and almost one and a half times the amount of enquiries in the same period in 2019. 

That increased interest has come despite ballooning costs in many major university markets.

In some Chinese universities, tuition fees for freshman undergraduates entering in 2023 have gone up by as much as 54 per cent compared with 2022, to 7,700 yuan (S$1,431) due to a drop in government funding, Reuters reported last month.  

Following this, there were also calls to raise tuition fees for international students by education experts in China, from about 20,000 yuan to as much as 110,000 yuan.

In the US, average tuition and fees have jumped by 69 per cent between 2000 and 2021, from US$8,082 to US$13,677 per year, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

However, fees in the US can vary widely, depending on the type of institution one attends. IDP Singapore said that tuition fees for a US college can reach up to US$60,000 per year. At that rate, a four-year programme would incur US$240,000 in tuition alone.

The overall cost would be significantly higher after adding rent, food, bills and other expenses that arise when living by yourself for a prolonged period of time.

A bachelor’s degree in a Singapore university starts from S$8,250 a year for Singaporeans and S$11,550 for permanent residents. A four-year course will thus set a student back by only about S$33,000 to S$46,200 upwards.

Mileage may vary

Crimson Education’s South-east Asia manager Quinn Koh said that despite the cost, an overseas education can be valuable when it comes time to look for a job.

“In today’s global job market, these overseas experiences play a pivotal role in fostering greater cultural competency and better equipping students to navigate diverse work environments in the future,” Koh said.

How much a foreign degree translates into economic returns can vary greatly, however.

Ng found a job as a UI/UX designer in a marketing agency in Japan in 2022. Her starting salary ranged between 310,000 yen and 395,000 yen.

Data from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare showed that in 2022, 20- to 24-year-old university graduates – including fresh graduates – earned 694,700 yen annually on average, comprising 251,500 yen of salary and 443,200 yen of bonuses.

Barring the depreciating yen value – which has in recent years taken a nosedive against the Singapore dollar – Ng said: “I was content in general because my bosses are good people, and I’m doing what I’m good at doing.”

Beyond pay, time spent overseas also yields dividends by opening doors and minds, said IDP Singapore country director Raymond Yew.

“Students in Singapore are highly aware of the benefits and value of studying abroad,” he said. “Studying abroad widens their options and opportunities with more universities, places and course selections.”

Nikita Suresh, 24, majored in aviation management at the University of South Australia.

Growing up watching her father travel the world for work, Nikita knew she wanted to further her education in an aviation-related field. But none of the universities in Singapore offered her the options she searched for.

Nikita’s parents encouraged her to study abroad, even though they had never done so themselves.

Her father, Suresh Kunjappa, said he had noticed that some of his nieces and nephews who had studied abroad seemed to have experienced a less stressful curriculum than that of Singapore’s, and were happier as a result.

“Somehow they are also more talkative and more confident,” he added.

So Suresh and his wife paid for Nikita’s studies in Australia. Annual tuition was A$35,000 (S$31,430), while her expenses on food and transport cost up to A$500 per month.

Fortunately for the family, the total costs could be reduced because Nikita was able to graduate in just two and a half years, a pace that would not have been possible in Singapore even if Nikita’s degree choice was available.

In Singapore, a typical bachelor’s degree with honours takes about four years to complete. 

“You don’t need as much time overseas (because) you can get a degree in a year or two,” said Suresh, a cabin attendant.

A whole new world

But perhaps the greatest benefits from studying abroad are the intangibles that come with living by yourself in a foreign place.

Joshua Yong, 25, said he had felt bad about taking his parents’ money for his studies, and had wrestled about whether to stay in Singapore because he had been offered a spot at a local university as well.

But his two older siblings had also gone overseas for their university education, and Yong said he saw how much it benefited them.

“Being in another country, away from everything you know and love, gives you a chance to start afresh – and I think it was something I really learnt to embrace,” said Yong, who graduated with a law degree from King’s College London.

“The challenges and problems that I’d normally be able to get help with from family or friends were not there,” he added.

For instance, he said that he learnt to manage conflicts that arose from living with flatmates, and to speak up when tensions arise, even when it is not in his nature to do so.

“I had to figure things out on my own and learn how to problem-solve.”

All of the graduates interviewed by The Business Times said that despite the high costs, given the choice to study overseas now, they would do it all over again. 

For his part, Yong still relishes the independence and freedom that it afforded him.

In his free time, he travelled to different countries within Europe, including the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Portugal and France – since it was much cheaper to do so from Britain than from Singapore.

As an avid football fan, he also caught live football matches held at the Emirates Stadium with friends he had made overseas: “I think those experiences are invaluable.”

At Waseda, Ng said she learnt how to make salted egg yolk chicken, tangyuan (glutinous rice dumplings), pandan cake and pineapple tarts to recreate the Singaporean flavours she could not find in Japan.

Learning to whip up those dishes also made her realise how much she took for granted the things she had in Singapore, such as the convenience of having a supermarket near her and being able to buy groceries whenever she wanted. 

“Being pushed out of one’s comfort zone is the first major step in one’s personal growth and discovering who you are,” she said.

“Having experienced it myself, I would recommend it to everyone if they ever get the opportunity.”