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20-09-2010, 12:55 AM
I think this is preposterous! Whatever happened to filial piety? I repaid my father for my Uni Education within 3 years+.
Aug 26, 2010
Grads not repaying parents' CPF for studies
7,500 default in repaying to parents' or own account
By Leow Si Wan
He had tapped into his parents' Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings to pay for his education at a local university.
But, instead of repaying the money owed to their accounts when he secured a job after graduation, he used his salary to first satisfy his own material needs - purchasing branded fashion items and a car.
He even incurred credit card debts to support his extravagant lifestyle and ended up having to borrow more from his parents.
The graduate, whose story was told to The Straits Times by a counsellor, is one of the more than 7,500 students who have defaulted on repaying monies - taken from either their own CPF accounts or those of their parents - to pay for their education.
Since it was made possible in 1989 for CPF members to use up to 40 per cent of their accumulated Ordinary Account savings for their own or their children's full-time local diploma and first-degree courses, 153,000 students have successfully applied to the Fund's Education scheme, as of 2006.
Of these, 5 per cent, or more than 7,500, have defaulted on the repayment of their loans and have failed to return money to CPF accounts for at least four consecutive months.
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen had referred to this group during a community visit on Sunday when he explained why the ministry had no plans to extend the scheme to students who want to pursue an overseas education.
He said that if the Government allowed the CPF to be used for education in a foreign university, 'a lot of parents will use that money'. If children do not repay the money, parents will be left with little retirement savings.
Applications made after 2006 are excluded because these students are likely to be still studying and their repayments are unlikely to be due yet.
Under the CPF Education scheme, those who have tapped on CPF savings for their education will need to start repayment only a year after graduation or upon leaving the course.
There are flexible repayment and instalment plans ranging from one year to 12 years, with a minimum monthly repayment of $100.
For defaulters, CPF helps members recover their money by sending regular reminder letters to those in default and encouraging them to repay the amounts owed promptly.
Several counsellors The Straits Times interviewed said they have seen more of such cases in recent years.
Besides the son who failed to top up his parents' CPF savings and who had to get more money from them to pay his credit card bills, the chief executive officer of voluntary welfare organisation Ain Society, Mr Md Yusof Ismail, said he had seen cases where children stopped paying because they had other commitments such as preparing for their wedding or paying for a home.
He said: 'I have seen a handful of such parents, mostly in the last few years. Such a trend could be because of the erosion of values such as filial piety, and the growing needs of youngsters nowadays to pursue a certain type of lifestyle.'
Parents, he said, complain and are upset, but are unwilling to take action against their children because of their love for them, or out of fear of embarrassment.
'I have asked some of them to go straight to the parents' tribunal but they do not want to,' he said.
Added Christian Care Services' executive director Edward Job: 'Some parents end up having to work for a longer period of time because their children are not repaying the money. It is a different environment now - children are more pampered and parents are willing to spend on them.'
One such parent is Mr J. Zheng, 56, a technical officer.
He had paid for his son's studies using his CPF savings and has since requested successfully for a waiver of repayment.
He said: 'As a father, paying for my son's education is my responsibility so I have never thought of getting him to pay back.'
His 28-year-son, who declined to be named, said: 'I have recently bought an apartment and a car so I consider myself very fortunate.
'But of course, I would pay my dad slowly, but without the pressure of interest rates and monthly payments.'
Meanwhile, the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education chairman Josephine Teo is of the view that the rules governing how the CPF can be used should not be changed easily.
She said: 'Based on figures, we are looking at easily more than 300 people a year who do not repay monies to their CPF accounts. This is a number which I would still be concerned about.'
She added that children should voluntarily offer to repay their parents.
She said: 'I suspect in most cases, the parents tell their children that it is okay but the child should pay their parents because we are talking about a sense of responsibility.
'If they do not even do so, there is no guarantee that they will take care of their parents in future.'
siwan@sph.com.sg
Aug 26, 2010
Grads not repaying parents' CPF for studies
7,500 default in repaying to parents' or own account
By Leow Si Wan
He had tapped into his parents' Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings to pay for his education at a local university.
But, instead of repaying the money owed to their accounts when he secured a job after graduation, he used his salary to first satisfy his own material needs - purchasing branded fashion items and a car.
He even incurred credit card debts to support his extravagant lifestyle and ended up having to borrow more from his parents.
The graduate, whose story was told to The Straits Times by a counsellor, is one of the more than 7,500 students who have defaulted on repaying monies - taken from either their own CPF accounts or those of their parents - to pay for their education.
Since it was made possible in 1989 for CPF members to use up to 40 per cent of their accumulated Ordinary Account savings for their own or their children's full-time local diploma and first-degree courses, 153,000 students have successfully applied to the Fund's Education scheme, as of 2006.
Of these, 5 per cent, or more than 7,500, have defaulted on the repayment of their loans and have failed to return money to CPF accounts for at least four consecutive months.
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen had referred to this group during a community visit on Sunday when he explained why the ministry had no plans to extend the scheme to students who want to pursue an overseas education.
He said that if the Government allowed the CPF to be used for education in a foreign university, 'a lot of parents will use that money'. If children do not repay the money, parents will be left with little retirement savings.
Applications made after 2006 are excluded because these students are likely to be still studying and their repayments are unlikely to be due yet.
Under the CPF Education scheme, those who have tapped on CPF savings for their education will need to start repayment only a year after graduation or upon leaving the course.
There are flexible repayment and instalment plans ranging from one year to 12 years, with a minimum monthly repayment of $100.
For defaulters, CPF helps members recover their money by sending regular reminder letters to those in default and encouraging them to repay the amounts owed promptly.
Several counsellors The Straits Times interviewed said they have seen more of such cases in recent years.
Besides the son who failed to top up his parents' CPF savings and who had to get more money from them to pay his credit card bills, the chief executive officer of voluntary welfare organisation Ain Society, Mr Md Yusof Ismail, said he had seen cases where children stopped paying because they had other commitments such as preparing for their wedding or paying for a home.
He said: 'I have seen a handful of such parents, mostly in the last few years. Such a trend could be because of the erosion of values such as filial piety, and the growing needs of youngsters nowadays to pursue a certain type of lifestyle.'
Parents, he said, complain and are upset, but are unwilling to take action against their children because of their love for them, or out of fear of embarrassment.
'I have asked some of them to go straight to the parents' tribunal but they do not want to,' he said.
Added Christian Care Services' executive director Edward Job: 'Some parents end up having to work for a longer period of time because their children are not repaying the money. It is a different environment now - children are more pampered and parents are willing to spend on them.'
One such parent is Mr J. Zheng, 56, a technical officer.
He had paid for his son's studies using his CPF savings and has since requested successfully for a waiver of repayment.
He said: 'As a father, paying for my son's education is my responsibility so I have never thought of getting him to pay back.'
His 28-year-son, who declined to be named, said: 'I have recently bought an apartment and a car so I consider myself very fortunate.
'But of course, I would pay my dad slowly, but without the pressure of interest rates and monthly payments.'
Meanwhile, the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education chairman Josephine Teo is of the view that the rules governing how the CPF can be used should not be changed easily.
She said: 'Based on figures, we are looking at easily more than 300 people a year who do not repay monies to their CPF accounts. This is a number which I would still be concerned about.'
She added that children should voluntarily offer to repay their parents.
She said: 'I suspect in most cases, the parents tell their children that it is okay but the child should pay their parents because we are talking about a sense of responsibility.
'If they do not even do so, there is no guarantee that they will take care of their parents in future.'
siwan@sph.com.sg
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