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Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (May 30):
Question:
At present, persons taking the part-time self-financing bachelor's degree programmes run by publicly-funded tertiary institutions are ineligible to apply for grants or loans under the financial assistance schemes for post-secondary students ("FASPs"). They may only apply to the Continuing Education Fund for reimbursement of 80% of the tuition fees for the courses concerned, subject to a ceiling of $10,000. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) whether they will raise the ceiling for reimbursing tuition fees to persons taking the aforesaid courses; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(b) whether they will allow these persons to apply for grants or loans under FASPs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government set up a $5 billion Continuing Education Fund (CEF) in 2002 to encourage citizens to pursue continuing education. As at April 30, 2007, over 330 000 applications have been approved, with about $1,400 million disbursed and another $1,300 million committed for future disbursement to applicants upon their successful completion of CEF courses. As resources are limited and in order to benefit more people, the reimbursement ceiling for each applicant under the CEF is set at $10,000 or 80% of the course fees, whichever is the less. The Administration has recently reviewed the scope and operation of the CEF and proposed a number of improvement measures. As the outcome of the review indicates that the existing reimbursement ceiling of $10,000 is considered to be appropriate generally, we have no plan to revise the ceiling upwards at this stage.
(b) The Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students applies to students aged 25 or below who have not obtained any qualification at the sub-degree or above level and are pursuing full-time, locally accredited, self-financing post-secondary education programmes. As regards students undertaking part-time self-financing degree programmes run by publicly-funded post-secondary institutions or other recognised institutions, they may apply for non-means-tested loans administered by the Student Financial Assistance Agency for paying tuition fees. In addition, students undertaking part-time self-financing degree programmes registered under the CEF may, in addition to receiving CEF subsidies, also apply for non-means-tested loans for advance payment of tuition fees. We believe that the availability of CEF subsidy and loans will help ensure that individual learners will not be deprived of learning opportunities due to financial difficulties.
Ends/Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:36
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