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The following is issued on behalf of the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA):
The Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA) has started to notify needy students who are eligible to receive the one-off grant of $1,000 about the detailed disbursement arrangements. SFAA will start disbursing the grant to eligible students in mid-October.
A spokesman for SFAA said, ˇ§All students who have applied for financial assistance from SFAA in the 2008-09 school year, and who have been assessed to be eligible to receive assistance under any of the following means-tested student financial assistance schemes will automatically become eligible for the one-off grant. They need not apply for the one-off grant separately. These categories of eligible students are as follows: ˇV
(a) Post-secondary students eligible to receive assistance under the Tertiary Student Finance Scheme ˇV Publicly-funded Programmes (TSFS) or the Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students (FASP);
(b) Students of designated evening adult education courses eligible to receive the Full or Half Fee Reimbursement under the Financial Assistance Scheme for Designated Evening Adult Education Courses (FAEAEC);
(c) Full-time students of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) or Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (HKIVE) eligible to receive assistance under the Student Travel Subsidy Scheme (STSS);
(d) Full-time/Part-time students of Project Yi Jin (PYJ) eligible to receive the Full Fee Reimbursement under PYJ and/or assistance under STSS;
(e) Primary and secondary students eligible to receive assistance under the School Textbook Assistance Scheme (STAS), STSS and/or the Examination Fee Remission Scheme (EFRS); and
(f) Kindergarten students eligible to receive fee remission under the Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme (KCFRS).ˇ¨
Starting from late August, SFAA has been sending off notification letters informing post-secondary students who have been assessed to be eligible to receive financial assistance under TSFS or FASP that the one-off grant will be credited to the applicantsˇ¦ bank accounts as from mid-October. For primary and secondary applicants who have passed the means test for student financial assistance, SFAA has also started to inform them, by way of notification letters, that the one-off grant will be paid together with the textbook assistance under STAS to eligible applicants through bank transfer from mid-October. Parents of kindergarten students who are eligible to receive assistance under KCFRS, SFAA will also be notified of their eligibility for the one-off grant in September, and the one-off grant will be disbursed to them in the form of cheques as from October.
Students who are eligible to receive means-tested financial assistance under FAEAEC and PYJ will also be receiving the one-off grant through bank transfer as from November. However, SFAA will disburse their normal means-tested financial assistance under FAEAEC or PYJ as appropriate after these students have completed their courses on a reimbursement basis, in accordance with the prescribed application procedures for the two schemes.
Students who pass the means test later in the school year, will be given the one-off grant together with their normal financial assistance under the relevant schemes within the 2008-09 school year.
The Social Welfare Department will also disburse the one-off grant of $1,000 in October for students (from kindergarten to secondary education) who are eligible for the flat-rate grant for school-related expenses under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme in the 2008-09 school year. Eligible CSSA recipients are not required to apply separately for the one-off grant. They will receive the grant through the existing CSSA payment arrangement.
In addition, the Social Welfare Department will disburse the grant to students who are eligible for assistance under the Fee Assistance Scheme for Child Care Centres (FA Scheme) in the 2008/09 school year. Eligible applicants of the FA Scheme will receive by post the one-off grant in the form of a cheque.
At his Question and Answer Session on July 16, the Chief Executive announced a package of short-term measures to reduce the burden on domestic households, particularly those with a disadvantaged background, under the increasing inflationary pressures. One of the measures is to offer a one-off grant of $1,000 to each student (from kindergarten to post-secondary education) eligible to receive means-tested subsidies under the various student finance schemes administered by SFAA in the 2008-09 school year, and students (from kindergarten to secondary education) receiving CSSA in the same school year, to alleviate the financial burden of needy parents in the new school year.
About 550,000 students would be eligible to receive the one-off grant in the 2008-09 school year, involving an estimated expenditure of about $550 million.
Parents or students may make enquiries about the eligibility and disbursement arrangements of the one-off grant at SFAA through the following telephone numbers:
Tertiary Student Finance Scheme - 2150 6000
Publicly-funded Programmes
Financial Assistance Scheme for 2152 9000
Post-secondary Students
Full or Half Fee Reimbursement 3101 9004
under the Financial Assistance Scheme
for Designated Evening Adult
Education Courses
Full Fee Reimbursement under 3101 9017
Project Yi Jin
School Textbook Assistance Scheme, 8226 7067
Student Travel Subsidy Scheme or
Examination Fee Remission Scheme
Kindergarten and Child Care Centre 2154 2130
Fee Remission Scheme
Parents/students receiving assistance under CSSA Scheme or FA Scheme may make enquiries with the Social Welfare Department at 2343 2255.
Ends/Friday, September 5, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:01
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