Opportunity Enhancement Grant

The Opportunity Enhancement Grant provides S$10,000 to top up existing financial aid schemes for on-campus accommodation (applicable for both room charges and meal plans) and overseas exposure programmes (e.g. Student Exchange Programme, Summer/Winter Programme, Research Attachment/Internship/Industrial Attachment). This is tenable for the duration of the degree programme.                                                                                  

For Academic Year 2022/2023, needy full-time Singaporean undergraduate students whose monthly per capita household income (PCI) is not more than S$690 (S$750 for Academic Year 2023/2024) in any of the semesters during their candidature.

Undergraduates who are pursuing the Concurrent Degree Programmes will not be eligible for the grant once they are charged graduate tuition fees.

• Recipients are allowed to concurrently hold the Opportunity Enhancement Grant with all University-administered scholarship/bursary/grant/free aid. However, adjustments may be made to ensure that the combined provision of financial aid does not exceed the on-campus accommodation or overseas exposure programme expenses.
• The grant is claimable only from the semester it is awarded. No retrospective claims are allowed, i.e. recipients are not allowed to use the grant for payment of on-campus accommodation or overseas exposure programmes participated in semesters prior to when the grant is awarded and recipients are not allowed to apply to use the grant for the previous/current semester once the registration for the upcoming semester has started. 
• There is no restriction on the amount a recipient can utilise from the OEG each semester as long as the total approved amount used during the normal candidature period of the recipient’s undergraduate course does not exceed S$10,000. If the OEG grant is not fully utilised during their candidature, it will lapse upon graduation or when the recipient pursuing a Concurrent Degree Programme is charged graduate tuition fees.
• To utilise the grant, recipients are required to register the purpose of the grant usage, for the semester(s) that they are staying on campus or participating in overseas exposure programmes. If you have been offered and have accepted the grant, details on the registration for the purpose of the grant will be sent to your NUS email account before the start of each academic year.
• The grant can be used to fund costs of participation in overseas programme for all overseas programme types available in the Education Records System-Global Education (EduRec-GE) portal, except NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programmes and courses where the study trip is supported by the South-East Asia Funding Initiative (SFI).
• In the event that the recipient withdraws from the on-campus stay or overseas programme or is awarded any bursaries/ scholarships/grants/free aid after the disbursement of the OEG, the OEG disbursed will be withdrawn or adjusted respectively and the withdrawn or adjustment amount will have to be refunded. Affected recipients should notify the Office of Financial Aid at:  https://www.askadmissions.nus.edu.sg/

The table below shows all the approved overseas programmes for which recipients are eligible to claim the grant.

To be considered for the Opportunity Enhancement Grant, you are required to apply for Financial Aid here.

Application to use OEG for on-campus stay

The OEG for accommodation will be processed when recipients of the Opportunity Enhancement Grant have registered the purpose of their grant usage for the semester(s) that they are staying on campus.

Application to use OEG for overseas exposure programme

Only overseas programme types available in the Education Records System-Global Education (EduRec-GE) portal will be eligible for the OEG, except for the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programmes and credit-bearing courses where the study trips are supported by the South-East Asia Funding Initiative (SFI).

The OEG for overseas programmes will be processed when recipients have: 

• Registered the purpose of their grant usage for the semester(s) that they are participating in overseas exposure programmes; and
• Submitted and accepted their overseas programme in the Education Records System-Global Education (EduRec-GE) portal. (Medicine students are required to submit their overseas electives programmes in the NUSMed Electives portal for endorsement instead of the EduRec-GE portal. Nursing students are required to submit their overseas exchange programmes to their School for endorsement instead of the EduRec-GE portal.)

Upon the successful processing of the Opportunity Enhancement Grant, the Office of Finance will credit the funds to the recipients’ Credit Bank Account in EduRec.

As the grant is a top-up to existing financial aid available for on-campus stay and overseas exposure programmes, grant amounts to be disbursed every semester will be determined by the University according to the following disbursement policy:

• All bursaries/scholarships/grants/free aid meant for on-campus accommodation will be first used to offset the hostel fees before the Opportunity Enhancement Grant will be disbursed to cover the remaining fees.
• For overseas exposure programmes, the Opportunity Enhancement Grant will be disbursed based on estimated overseas programme costs pre-determined by Office of Financial Aid (OFA) which includes airfare, accommodation fees, living expenses, application fees#, tuition fees# and programme fees#  (# not applicable for Student Exchange Programme) after deducting all bursaries/scholarships/grants/free aid meant for the overseas programme from the estimated expenses amount as determined by the University. 
• The pre-determined estimated cost factors in the study location (i.e. country) and duration of study is the cost that a typical student who participates in a similar overseas programme will incur. The actual cost could be higher or lower depending on each student’s expenditure and lifestyle.
• The grant will only be disbursed after recipients have accepted the eligible overseas programme offered in the EduRec-GE portal. The grant amount disbursed is final and appeals will not be considered.
• Students who are disbursed the OEG grant but withdraw from the hostel stay or overseas programme subsequently will have their grant withdrawn and the disbursed grant amount will have to be refunded.
• If recipients are awarded any bursaries/scholarships/grants/free aid after the disbursement of the grant, the grant amount will be adjusted accordingly and the adjustment amount will need to be refunded.