Fees for Graduate Programmes

The University's fees are reviewed and adjusted periodically to reflect the approximate cost of providing education to students. Unlike undergraduate education, most graduate programmes are designed to be largely self-funding, with little or no subsidy from the Government of Singapore. However, NUS is committed in making our self-funded master's programmes accessible for our alumni and local residents. Please refer to here for more information on the tuition fee rebates for NUS self-funded master’s programmes.

  1. Government-subsidised graduate programmes

    The annual tuition fees for different categories of government-subsidised graduate programmes are set out here. The substantial tuition subsidy from the Government of Singapore is administered by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and is offered to all eligible students. Students need not apply for the MOE Subsidy if they are eligible.

    The fees for each academic year are published annually in May or June. For instance, the tuition fees for AY2023/2024 were released in May 2023.

    • Service Obligation (SO) Scheme and Graduate Assistantship Programme (GAP)

    The University may deem it feasible, based on industry demand, to implement a Service Obligation (in some MOE-subsidised programmes) for International Students. For more information on Service Obligation scheme, please refer to: https://nusgs.nus.edu.sg/service-obligation-scheme/

    Students, who are required to pay Liquidated Damages (LD) to MOE for breaking the bond, would have to pay the total amount of MOE Subsidy under Service Obligation (reflected in their individual student bill) plus 10% interest rate compounded at the end of each academic year.

    • Tuition Fee beyond Normal and Maximum Candidature Period

    With effect from of AY2019/2020, students admitted into a government-subsidised graduate coursework degree programme and who take longer than the normal candidature period to complete their degree requirements will have to pay full unsubsidized fees, during the extended semesters.

    Students who are admitted prior to AY2019/2020, will continue to pay subsidised fees until their maximum candidature period. Those who take longer than the maximum candidature period are required to pay full unsubsidised fees, during their extended semesters.

    The list of government-subsidised graduate coursework programmes and its corresponding normal and maximum candidature period can be found here.

    For more information, please refer to FAQ.

    Students enrolled into a full-time or part-time government-subsidised graduate research programmes will pay MOE subsidised fees for up to their maximum candidature period, i.e. three (3) years for Master's by Research and five (5) years for PhD programmes. NUS will continue to subsidise the tuition fees for those who have exceeded the maximum candidature period for another (1) year. This means that full-time or part-time Master's by Research and PhD students who are in Year 5 and Year 7 of their studies respectively, will be required to pay the full, unsubsidised tuition fees from AY2024/2025 onwards.

  2. Self-funded graduate coursework programmes

    Tuition fees for self-funded graduate coursework programmes can be found at the respective programme websites. The list of self-funded graduate coursework programmes is set out here.

Miscellaneous student fees help meet costs incurred by the University in providing services to the student community that are either not covered or only partially covered by the tuition fee and government subsidy. These services include healthcare for students; facilitating student cultural, social and recreational programmes; and maintaining the shuttle bus service, IT network and other essential campus infrastructure and services.

All students, whether registered on a full-time or part-time basis, are charged the miscellaneous student fees. These are due at the same time as the tuition fees. The miscellaneous student fees payable are set out here.

The Office of Finance publishes information on deadlines for fee payments and modes of fee payment. The Office will send an email notification to students' NUS email accounts to view their Student Bill online at least two weeks before the scheduled deadline for fee payment.

Students who do not meet fee payment deadlines stipulated by the Office of Finance may incur penalty fees. If outstanding fees are not paid, or only partially paid, by the fee payment due date indicated in the bill, a late payment charge will be imposed.

Should fees remain outstanding after the relevant fee payment due date, the University reserves the right to suspend academic rights and privileges, including to withhold degree conferment certifications. In addition, students with overdue fees may have their candidature of study terminated.


For programmes with different fee rates for full-time and part-time enrolment, part-time fees are payable for students who convert from full-time to part-time within Instructional Week 2 of the semester. Full-time fees would be charged for conversions thereafter.

Full-time fees will be charged for conversion from part-time to full-time anytime throughout the semester. The miscellaneous student fees payable are set out here.

According to the transfer funding framework for government-subsidised Graduate Coursework Programmes, students who convert their academic workload (from full-time (FT) to part-time (PT) or vice versa) will be eligible for MOE subsidy in their converted programmes as follows:

  1. FT to PT: Subsidy eligibility for PT programme = Normal Candidature Duration of PT programme – (Number of subsidised semesters consumed under FT programme x 2), rounded up
  2. PT to FT: Subsidy eligibility for FT programme = Normal Candidature Duration of FT programme – (Number of subsidised semesters consumed under PT programme / 2), rounded up.



Students who are full-time NUS staff members may be eligible to apply for the staff tuition fee concession for part-time, government subsidised graduate programmes. Information on the staff concession is available at the Staff Portal under Categories – HR & Benefits – Staff Concessions for Continuing Education  Government subsidised graduate programme.

Students who leave the University, either through withdrawal of their own accord or termination of candidature by the University, after Instructional Week 2 of the semester will be liable to pay fees for the entire semester. Requests for refund will generally not be considered.

NUS has an array of financial assistance for graduate students which is available in the form of scholarships and various financial aid schemes. For more details on these, please click here.