The NUS Financial Bill

Sometimes I wonder why I am being charged for things I don't use. I don't even understand what some charges are for.

Screen Capture from Current Tuition Fees Payable. Bright lines indicate things that I don't know why I am being charged for

a) NUSSU Annual Subscription ($10 first year, $24 every year)

NUSSU = National University of Singapore Students Union .

The NUSSU logo. Stolen from official site.

NUSSU has done many stuff for us. A great example is the S/U option and I appreciate the efforts they have taken. But why are they not being transparent with what they do with the money?

OK, let's assume NUS has 25,000 students (from the annual report). That means they are collecting 25,000 x 24 = $600,000 per year!

Where is it going to? Am I making use of it? I notice HOOKED and "The Ridge" are some publications they do. Fine, the printing, design and licensing take up a bulk of the cost. Then again, most of the staffs are mostly NUS students doing the job as a CCA. So where does the remainder of the money go?

b) Sports ($24)

We are SO generous that *most* of us are helping to pay for others' sports activities. Cool eh? Even if I never stepped inside or peeked inside any of those halls, I still have to contribute my chunk. Well, for exams maybe. That's Twenty Four Dollars per semester for the use of the multi-purpose hall for exams.

NUS Sports ad. Image stolen

If everyone really used the sports facilities available to them, would it really be sufficient? 25,000 chiong all the sports facilities together! Would the stadium be barely able to contain them all?

Just like the hotel bill joke (warning, a stupid MIDI will play in the background).

We pay for unlimited [56k] internet, licence the latest Microsoft [development] software for SOC students to download and probably are paying for many others stuff that we don't use. Perhaps it is because charging on a per-use basis would be troublesome.

c) Health Insurance ($60)

I managed to get the information from here. Apparently it gives free consultation, basic investigations and standard drugs from University Health Physicians (Non-standard items are chargeable). Cool, free consultation and medicines! Ditcha know that?

And Outpatient reimbursement (at subsidised rate similar to B2 rate) from Singapore Government hospitals for cases referred by University Health Physicians, excluding pre-existing illness.

But it does not cover dental care and many others.

Did you know? You are paying for unlimited Consultation in UWHC every year! Image stolen.

But, there is already a very friendly subsidised polyclinic nearby and I already have health insurance. Anyway to opt out? Nope. $60 per semester for nothing.

d) CLASS ($13)

Nowhere can I find the definition of this $13 charge. Furthermore, it is 'CLASS' and not 'Class'. So it has to be an acronym that stands for something.

After Googling deeper, I found out that it is a "fee which is imposed to comply with the Copyright Law, and use of academic related facilities (eg: computers and labs". Still, I don't get why we need to pay to comply with Copyright law? So where does this money go to? The lab fees are already included in the main fees, right?

Seems that we are paying for many things that we don't use. Even the Laboratory charge of $30 is charged if you don't take any lab-related modules for the semester.

Oh, and I also noticed that GST is about $950 (7% of 14,000). Luckily, the tuition grant covers it well, though I don't wonder why GST has to be charged for tuition granted students. It is like as if the government is charging for granting tuition grant.