What are some strategies to fund my postgraduate course (i.e. MBA) in Singapore (one of the main 3 universities) as a foreigner on Employment Pass?

I like this question and it resonates with me since I aspire to get my MBA too (at SMU in my case).

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As usual, there are too many variables in play and we would thus assume that you have been working for at least 2 years (which is the minimum requirement for MBA in most public universities here, that you have some cash savings, and that you are looking to work in Singapore post-graduation.

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Finally, we should assume that you are seeking a strategy to pay for your tuition fee.

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I can't personally share my full strategy in public, hence, I will share two scenarios as illustrations:

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Scenario A

Take smart debt to leverage your tuition fee payment. You can borrow from,

• friends and family (and fools)
• banks (Citi bank and HSBC have personal loans for foreigners)
• P2P Lending Platforms (though I don't know any in Singapore offering loans to students)

This is the simplest way to get started.

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However, unless you are a high-income earner (which then would raise eyebrows as per why you would need a loan in the first place), you can only get a loan that is commensurate with your monthly income. But you get the point, and do compare loan options from a financial comparison website).

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Also, you might need to use a portion of your cash savings given the maximum amount you could borrow.

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Scenario B

Sell your future earnings** to an investor or a group of investors. It sounds somewhat similar to Scenario A **but it is not,

1. Borrow from an investor or a group of investors (which could as well be an institution)
2. Get a fair contract which protects both parties' downsides
3. Go study, graduate and start paying a % of your monthly/annual income to your investor(s)

Some terms but not limited to:

• A % only of your recurring income
• Capped to a fixed duration, say 10 years
• In the event of unemployment or inability to work due to health, recurring repayment goes on hiatus

Hope it clarifies

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Pascal

There are a few possible ways:

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1. Get your company to sponsor you. If you are a top performing high level executive, you can try asking if your company would sponsor you the MBA.

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2. Try applying for the various post-grad scholarships. There are numerous scholarships for prospective post-grad students.

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3. Applying for financial assistance. This is only if you really cannot afford the fees, you can try to apply for financial assistance at the university.