More students in Singapore juggle studying and working to support their families

Straits Times

7 days ago

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Ms Amillie Chan worked up to five hours a day on weekdays and 12 hours a day on weekends – all while studying full-time.
SINGAPORE – Throughout her three years in polytechnic, 21-year-old Amillie Chan spent every evening after class serving customers and preparing food at Mexican-themed fast food chain Guzman y Gomez.
Miss Chan, who graduated in May from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) with a diploma in food and beverage business, worked up to five hours a day on weekdays and 12 hours a day on weekends – all while studying full-time.
While there is no official data on the number of students who have to study and work to support their families, social service agency Allkin Singapore said that it has seen a more than threefold increase in the number of post-secondary students aged 17 and above who have to work while studying, from five in 2024 to 17 in 2025.
This is according to data gathered from applications for its Allkin ElevatED! study grant.
Ms Natalie Lim, deputy director of the family and community support division at Allkin Singapore, said that this increase 'suggests a growing trend of students having to assume financial responsibilities while pursuing their education'.
Two other social service organisations The Straits Times reached out to did not have this data.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) said that in academic year 2023, over 70 per cent of Singaporeans studying at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and around 50 per cent of Singaporeans studying in polytechnics received the Higher Education Community Bursary and the Higher Education Bursary.
The figures have remained stable over the past five years, MOE added.
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These are government bursaries for post-secondary students from lower- to middle-income group households that help them to offset tuition fees. Families eligible for the Higher Education Community Bursary take home $4,400 or less monthly, while families eligible for the Higher Education bursary take home $10,000 or less monthly.
Sharing their families' burden
For some students, working part-time is a choice they make to help supplement their family's income.
Second-year Temasek Polytechnic (TP) business student Lucas Lim works part-time as a retail assistant at Fairprice to alleviate the financial burden on his 63-year-old bus captain father, who is the sole breadwinner of the family, which includes his 56-year-old homemaker mother and two older brothers, aged 25 and 29.
The 18-year-old said of his father, who is looking to retirement soon: 'I've seen him working tirelessly for his entire life. I want to be able to carry some of the burden for him.'
Temasek Polytechnic student Lucas Lim has worked part-time at Fairprice from 8am to 2pm every weekend for one and a half years to help relieve the financial burden on his sole-breadwinner father.
ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
When Singapore Polytechnic (SP) civil engineering student Yap Jie Er started working at Takagi Ramen as a kitchen crew member in October 2021, she did it for her own extra pocket money.
Two months later , it became a necessity for her to own her own keep after her father died from cancer.
'I stopped taking an allowance from my mum. Since I was earning my own money, I wanted my mum to be able to give more allowance to my three younger siblings,' said Miss Yap, 20, whose younger siblings are aged 18, 11 and seven years old respectively.
Miss Jennifer Lau, a third-year immersive media student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), works once a week as a retail assistant at a Lego store.
She would like to work more, but she cannot do so because she has to juggle studies as well as visiting her father in a nursing home .
Ngee Ann Polytechnic student Jennifer Lau works once a week as a retail assistant at a Lego store.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Her father was admitted to a nursing home to receive full-time care in November 2023, after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disease that leads to difficulty with walking, balance, coordination and even speech.
Miss Lau, 23, earns about $400 a month during the school term. Most of her salary is spent on personal expenses like food and transport costs, as well as food for her father when she visits him two to three times a week.
For now, her household bills and her father's nursing home costs are covered by her father's savings and her school fees are covered by financial assistance programmes.
'The biggest challenge of working and studying at the same time is that I can't work enough. I want to be able to work more,' said Miss Lau, who has no siblings.
How they balance school and work
Many students who work part-time focus on academics during the weekdays and go to their jobs on weekends.
Miss Yap would work up to two shifts at Takagi Ramen every weekend. Each shift lasted from 10am to 10pm.
Her job involved preparing drinks, serving customers and assisting the ramen chef. Mi Yap recalls that she had to be on her feet throughout her shifts except during a one-hour break each shift.
She said: 'Standing all day can be tiring, especially during the evening peak hours when it's extremely busy. We (also) have to stay a 100 per cent focused on our work without making any mistakes.'
Despite working only twice per week, Miss Yap's part-time job took a toll on her studies.
She said: 'I would be too tired (from work) to study on weekends, so I would often stay up past midnight to catch up on studies during weekdays.'
'Sometimes, when I am sleeping, I would even have dreams about working (at my job). It definitely affected my concentration in class and there's been an obvious drop in my grades,' said Miss Yap, whose grade point average has dropped from 3.4 to 3.2.
She stopped working in July 2024 in order to focus on her studies as she is in her final year. Financial aid programmes, such as the bond-free HSBC Centenary Scholarship she won in 2023 and 2024, have helped with her financial situation.
She said: 'It's allowed me to work less and have more time to focus on studies and socialising.'
'I wish I could spend the money I earn on myself'
For Mr Lim, working part-time means having to sacrifice time that could be spent on co-curricular activities or socialising.
He said: 'I don't have much of a chance to rest, so I'm usually too exhausted from work to participate in sports.'
'CCAs I'm interested in, like dragonboat and archery, train only on the weekends, so I'm unable to commit due to my work.'
For Mr Lim, working part-time means having to sacrifice time that could be spent on co-curricular activities or socialising.
ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
Not only does he miss socialising with his friends due to his work commitments on the weekends, he also feels like his life is about 'constantly running from task to task'.
'I have no time to unwind,' he said.
Miss Lau said her sacrifice is in terms of the things she wants but does not need.
'I wish that I could spend some of the money I earn on things I want to buy. Sometimes I'll see things like games or (video game) consoles and tell myself that I'm going to buy it next month, but that next month never comes around,' she said.
When she first began working, she often found herself comparing her situation with those of her classmates. 'Why do I have to work while they don't? Why can they have things that I can't?' she would think.
'But as I've gotten older, I've gotten more used to it and I've realised that everyone has different journeys any way.'
Miss Lau said that despite the challenges, she has benefited from her time working and studying at the same time. She said: 'It's helped me improve my confidence and built important skills I'll need for working in the real world, like public speaking.'
Senior clinical and counselling psychologist at Allkin Singapore Tan Ying Yin said that working at a young age can benefit students: 'It provides early opportunities to develop essential life skills. Through work, youth can learn valuable skills such as time management and financial responsibility.'
Mr Lim agrees. 'Working has given me a new perspective. It's developed my time management skills, and it's taught me to be disciplined and resolved,' he said.
'Even though I may be exhausted now, I think it'll benefit me in the long run. I want to take these skills to give my dad peace of mind when he retires, and contribute to a better future for my family.'
What are the impacts of studying and working to support the household simultaneously?
Allkin Singapore's Ms Lim said students who have to study and work to support their households face 'significant challenges', including difficulty focusing on academics due to the demands of multiple roles and persistent worries about having enough financial resources to meet both personal and family needs.
There are also psychological impacts on students. Ms Tan Ying Yin, senior clinical and counselling psychologist at Allkin Singapore, said: 'Youth seek acceptance and a sense of belonging through their peer relationships.
'Taking on work and family responsibilities may cause them to miss out on key relational milestones, as they have less time for social and recreational activities with their peers. The challenge of balancing both work and school can heighten feelings of stress and anxiety.'
What help is available for students who work and study at the same time?
An MOE spokesperson said that there is a 'wide range of financial assistance schemes available to support Singaporean citizen students from low to middle-income families'.
These include government bursaries, such as the Higher Education Community Bursary and Higher Education Bursary, and loans for diploma and undergraduate students, as well as individual aid schemes from institutes of higher learning.
Additionally, there are other forms of financial assistance offered by foundations, community groups, self-help groups, as well as private and professional organisations.
Family service centres, such as Allkin, also offer financial assistance programmes for students in difficult financial situations. Some of these programmes, such as the Allkin Family Support Fund, provide financial assistance to students beyond just school-related materials, and help students and their families afford basic needs and significant family expenses.
However, despite the availability of financial assistance, some students still feel the need to work to support their families. Ms Lim said that in these instances, students may continue to work because: