Free Education Funded by Australia

Hi,
 
Saw your blog and wanted to check with you if you can help.
 
I wanted to my son to study in Australia uni 3-4 yrs down the road. Understand that if my son is a PR the fees will be funded by the govt.
 
My elder brother is already a Australia citizen, he is married with children.
 
I read about Australia Family Migration, he can sponsor me and my family the PR. 
a) Do I still need to accumulate the point.
b) I still have 2 sisters and mother in Singapore.
 
Hope you can advise.

J


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asingaporeanson's note:


My apologies for not being able to reply tricky questions because I am having a tough time at work at late, working over-time (paid 1.5x, fyi) to meet deadlines. The time between me reaching home and my daughter falling asleep will not be compromised. Even people close enough to me knows I don't even answer my phone around this time. It isn't done on purpose but just happens I am far enough from my phone that I cannot hear it or answer in time. In short, that time window is gold. 


So I'm left with very little time, especially when I get the workers to come 2 hours early for work instead of stay 2 hours late. The reason why I love my job is that I have a say to decide this kind of thing. If I had my way working in Singapore, I'll start at 5am and leave at 1pm without having lunch.  To cut the story short, much as I wanted to, I am too weary to reply this one. Fortunately for me, my friend Dangerous Deb agreed that I could outsource my difficult emails to her on the condition that quality is not guaranteed. Since we are all Singaporeans and are used to poor quality work these days from the top to the bottom of the country, I think it's worth a gamble.


Dangerous Deb is a mother of (almost) two living in the Eastern part of Australia.  I got to know her on the internet. She is witty, smart, hardworking and beautiful but woman being woman, she's usually super nice unless you catch her on the wrong day.


I am neutral towards Dangerous Deb's opinion but I would like to share a short story with you. It happened when I was working for NParks several years ago. A young Pinoy lady looking lost chatted me up at a bus stop along Bukit Timah Road. She asked me for directions so I gave her some. Then I asked her if she was new to Singapore.


She said yes and it was her first day in Singapore. It turned out that she was heading towards her destination, a hostel near the old Courts along Upper Bukit Timah Road. I casually asked her how much was the rental and was surprised to hear it was fully subsidised by her scholarship granted by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Not only that, she was given a weekly allowance for living expenses and tuition fees was complete free. So I asked her if she needed to serve a bond upon graduation. She said no. I repeated my question and she confirmed it.


When I asked her if she had any plans to work a few years in Singapore after graduation (I was a shallow stereotypist and assumed all foreigners love the SGD) She told me she would be definitely returning to the Philippines because in her opinion, her country was in chaos and it needed her, people like her. That was a good young lady and I couldn't fault her, though it left a bitter taste in my mouth how I had to slog through my final year in university financially (if you read my past stories). It would have felt a bit better if she had told me she would stay a while to repay the gratitude to the Singapore Government for giving her a free education.


Fast forward to today, that was why I refuse to leave Perth at the first sign of trouble (my bladder cancer). Perth gave me Albany, paid for all expenses, gave me a new life, hope and returned my zest for life. Even though I have yet to decide if I will eventually give up my Singaporean citizenship, I would definitely repay Australia many times over before I leave her shores. In that sense, I shared Dangerous Deb's sentiments. I hope you do too.

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Reply from Guest blogger, Dangerous Deb


Dear Sir,


Firstly, I wish to inform you of the following with regards to education: 


1. It is NOT free, contrary to what you believe in. It is a loan that is basically interest-free, and this loan is only available to citizens of the country. Thats right, CITIZENS - of the great country of Australia. 


2. The only benefit PRs get is that they can pay citizen fees, which will off course be significantly less than what International Students pay. 


I think it is precisely because of people like you, that used to fully take advantage of this HECS loan, then go back to your own country once your education is done so you don't have to pay it back. 


I cant help but feel the need to ask you "Why do you want to migrate?" The only reason that I can see here from your letter is that you want the benefit of so-called 'free-education' by the government. Is that the only thing you want to "get" out of Australia? 


I guess you could want to be close to your brother and his family too, but that reason is cancelled out by you leaving behind 2 sisters and a mother back in your beloved Singapore. 


"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what YOU can do for your country." 


What can YOU do for Australia? 


How can you better serve it? 


That is precisely what is wrong with your mentality. Gaining Citizenship / PR is a privellege but it comes with responsibilities. I daresay this is a form of abusing the system - your loyalty is to your country Singapore but yet you solely want Australian PR in order to gain its benefits of education? 


You asked for advise. I would strongly advise you to think through the question of - WHY do you want Australian PR?? Also, do your research. Yes you still need to 'accumulate the point' and still go through the entire process. 


Good luck,


Dangerous Deb

44 comments:

  1. Nice one. I couldn't give a rat's ass about replying to such a query, though I will spend the half a minute to pop a comment to say this ;)

    -s

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  2. Advice, not advise. I feel like sammyboy now. :P

    "I still have 2 sisters and mother in Singapore."

    So? WTF? And your point being?

    I am glad people are starting to get a feel of those who can make it, and those who can't.

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    1. > Advice, not advise. I feel like sammyboy now.

      Hahah, I remember that too from sammyboy... my starting point of checking out my emigration options. :p

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  3. I am a PR. And I pay HECS fees. I thought Dangerous Deb's reply was reasonable and truthful.

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  5. If his son is a PR, he will pay tuition fees just like Australians. That itself is tens of thousands of dollars cheaper compared to being an international student. Also, it depends what is the purpose of the son for studying in Australia? Does he want to stay on in Australia to live and work? His email is too vague.

    overseas sinkie

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    1. I disagree

      Re-re-read the email again.

      Assuming it is not edited the way it was constructed can only be read in a certain way

      I want my son to study uni in Oz

      I understand Oz government will fund my son or uni if he is PR

      So I am trying to get PR so that my son can be PR so that he can get his studies In Aussie uni funded by Oz Govt

      This is essentially the intent of the writer and certainly it highlight the reason fo applying for PR now and does not state any intent regarding committing to fulfilling his obligations as a PR contributing to Australia in the long run, for the writer and the son.

      Can you blame any Australians, locally born or migrant, for getting upset for this kind of mentality?

      Furthermore the writer is thinking about coming under family reunion and not skilled migrants, so there is no apparent intent in contributing to Australian society, I am surprised the scheme still exists in the current form after so many years of abuse...... Family getting elderly parents a PR purely to get Medicare benefits and treatment after which the parents go back to their home country forever.

      Plenty of people from MY IN and SG did exactly what the writer proposed in the early 1990s and then after graduation the children go back to home countries without paying the HECS university fees or the AUSTUDY student loans, so gives the local SEA origin migrants a very bad reputation. Then the economic crises f the late 1990s happens the the SEA countries sudden was in recession, but these graduates cannot come back since they lost their PR...

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    2. Although I also agree that your response when tired (KNNBCCB) was over the top, took me a while to reactivate my SBMT training.... Both good days and nightmares at the same time (took me 2 years after ROD to stop thinking about it)

      See wat see, simi LC!

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    3. And BTW to J who wrote this

      You can do what you want and ultimately you will get someone to help you get PR, but you better stay anonymous because I don't think you will get much sympathy from many people for all your wrong intentions, but thank you for being honest

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    6. If the Oz govt is going to give anyone PR, it will be under 2 circumstances:

      1. The person is useful and is going to contribute to Australia in some way skills, wealth, knowledge. If bringing this person going to keep a valuable person already in Oz to keep staying here, this also applies

      2. Sympathetic for the person persecuted for various reason not of their own doing, claiming asylum

      You may say Oz govt may still accept J's application but ultimately based on what J wrote there is no doubt in terms of the motive; primarily the son's education to be funded by the Oz government. Defending J for whatever other possible or unsaid reasons J may have is pointless, since it is not important enough for J to mention it in the email.

      I am not saying the system is not prone to abused, as I said it is very common in Australia for ppl to do exactly what J plans to do in the1990s, but doesn't mean we should say its ok to use the loophole when we know about it. That's why I wrote that J can do whatever J wants but I suggest anonymity is preferable because who know people including me can become buay sing not happy and decide to write a letter to DIMA

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    7. Btw ABS

      Judging by what the Abbot government is doing to reduce expenditure, don't be surprised if there is going to be changes withe skilled migration scheme and family reunion scheme since nothing is sacred enough for him to be left alone.

      When John Howard got elected in 1996 within 3 months his government decided that all PR except asylum seeker PR, will not be entitled to Medicare for first 6 months in Australia.

      And tony Abbott admire Howard a lot.

      You betta get your application in before other people start to give the migration scheme a bad name. It just take one outcry on a case of abuse stirred up by media for Abbott to use that as an excuse to make the loop tighter for everyone.

      Remember there is still enough rednecks around to support his migration change

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    9. @ ABS

      you got the abbreviation because I am sick of getting typos from using the iPad.

      You are still a Rudd supporter? Are you mental? I know I used a string word but I have been sympathetic to him and what happened to him, but the last 2 years he truly showed his real self, so there is no way I am supporting Rudd and that back stabbing Shorten now. Abbott was the only other candidate, so as much as I have reservations, there is no surprises as much as I expected from him so far as he promised. If someone expects much more than what he actually did promised, they are the one who are mistaken and thus disappointed and saying they were being cheated, even though he has been te upper middle class Queen loving, god-fearing, xenophobic misogynist he always was

      You like all things HK? Speak Cantonese? Yum cha every weekend? Then you really should come to Sydney.

      Setting up cook food business for Chinese is very competitive now in Sydney. HK style, SEA style, various regional style from mainland china, Taiwanese style, even far western jiangxi halal food easily available, and this is definitely not even considering other non-Chinese Asian food

      So unless you an offer a unique and popular twist, otherwise cook food business is a hard market to break into.

      So you are enduring in SG until the right time? If I am you I will subscribe and read the Australian newspaper online o watch out for any move on migration scheme. Brandis is seeking to change the racial vilification law and if he is successful, then changing migration law will be small fry for him

      BTW of course J is a pseudonym; you think J is like MiB meh? :)

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    11. Going to be un contactable for a few days, will post contact email this weekend or monday

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    13. Posted email contact no reply from ABS

      Email address withdrawn to spare spamming and ppl ka-chiao

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  7. Difference is I plan to stay, contribute and make this place my home. I will renounce Singapore citizenship in a heartbeat.

    I hope to earn enough to pay taxes soon. Meanwhile we have recouped our PR fees but A has a job and pays taxes as well. As the country gives to us, we give back.

    There may not be NS here, but I'm planning to volunteer with State Emergency Services and after we move, I'll take another crack at volunteering with CFA

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    1. SES can take quite a big commitment both physically and time and predictability. I applaud your plan but if you want to volunteer there are plenty of things you can do including joining rotary or lions club, or even participate in the local community club, like cycling society, bush walking club etc in which they often needs people in the executive committee to volunteer their time to organise things and call people up or fund rising etc.

      Don't need to go and do too much physical and dangerous thing if you want to.

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    2. Also look at landcare website for projects

      When I can I join a land rehabilitation project about 20 km away from the city every month on Sundays for a 3-4 hour session. Meet a lot of people I would not have seen in my social circle. Plenty of older people healthy and strong enough to do land work; in my line I only see sick old people, so a very nice change of perspective

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    4. My my ABS, you are an angel aren't you?

      I still remember what you said in the other post on Nix's blog.

      I'm calling you out as a first class hypocrite for that. :)

      I have a lot to learn from you indeed!

      -S

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  8. If J isn't asking for scholarship, I'd be surprised if there is free education in Australia.

    The HECS-HLP is probably the only loan scheme available to Australian citizen and perhaps the Humanitarian PR can apply for tertiary education at the university. If I haven't mistaken, this loan scheme applies only to undergraduate studies. Sadly, the usual PR is not eligible for HECS-HLP.

    Nonetheless there is another possibility i.e. the CSP Commonwealth-Supported Places for eligible citizens and PRs from the Commonwealth countries. Still, this only applies to undergraduate studies, but the quota for CSP is very limited.

    If I put everything into perspectives, an eligible applicant will first try to apply for CSP. Success or failure, applicant can proceed to apply for HECS-HLP. Then of course, if the applicant gets CSP, the HECS-HLP loan principal will be far lower than an applicant who doesn't get the CSP.

    I'm not sure how much non-Humanitarian PR (the usual PR) got to pay. Perhaps a fraction of what international student would normally pay. I recall someone telling it's based on the units you study and it varies from university to university.

    For whatever personal grievances, the last five comments don't quite fit this post.
    I'm not trying to be self righteous, but don't ever be the first person to start calling people names and I mean you Neurotic Ramblings. That ain't cool! If A Blessed Singaporean said is true about you, I think you got a serious integrity issue. Surely I can't be the only bloke, who didn't enjoy National Service, but I will never betray my soul to sign on with the SAF because I know I can never become one of them, who served for an honourable purpose that I can't deliver wholeheartedly. There are many ways to get money, but if money is what you were after when you signed on, you are no different from those corrupted civil servants who betrayed the trust of the people.

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  9. While I am not trying to be kaypoh here, this part of the thread runs into the risk of personal slinging match. We all have taken an oath before. The pledge at school is one of the example. All NS men have taken oath. These oath have no expiry dates. So I would have been guilty of breaking the oath I have taken at CMPB a long long time ago since I am nw here. The oath as a NSF is no less important than a sign on guy.

    Of course if someone fully intend to migrate, and yet after that decision to leave SG, still sign on with SAF, it doesn't look good. But frankly I much rather have a person taken their oath even when they intend to migrate, and do their job properly, rather than someone who don't want to migrate, took the oath and wayang all the way in their work

    At the end lets stay away from the mudslinging

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    2. Let the public judge from the quality of our blogs. I've read ABS's just once, before he showed his true colours.

      Never been back since. But I'm sure his retaliation has nothing to do with attempting to drum up page views for a mediocre blog at all..

      Not that ours is anything to crow about lah.. :)

      But before any other angels cast stones at me, try to find out the backstory first.

      People like ABS make me tend to want to avoid Sinkies even here in Melbourne. I've heard his species isn't unique actually.

      - S

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    3. Big deal! You got a blog. I don't have one, is that gonna make me or anyone who doesn't have a blog a lesser human? You talk like one who is suffering from Megalomania a psychological disorder associated to self-inflated ego.

      That's where your problem is. You like to assume. Nobody claims to be an angel here.

      Good Lord! As much as you want to avoid Singaporeans in Australia, I doubt anyone would want to associate with you. You are a nutcase. And guess what? You got a perfect match for your name Neurotic Rambling aka Mentally Confused.

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    4. Seems like your species won't go extinct after all. Look, we have a mating pair! (h)

      Gosh. You guys crack me up =))

      -S

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    5. Hi XYZ,

      Firstly, I wasn't the first one to cast stones in this thread. Ok I do have my own opinions about the original questions from J but have tried my best not to reveal it.

      Secondly, there's more history to it even in Nix's blog. I leave you to discover if you bother. Doesn't really matter. If we cared what people think of us, we wouldn't even have migrated in the first place. Internet opinions, negative or positive, don't mean that much to us. But of course concrete suggestions or advice is always appreciated :)

      Flaming is par for the course lah. It's the internet after all, where everyone has an opinion and thinks very highly of it. We kena before big time on our blog, likely from PAP IB. Though the interesting characters I see here seem to belong to a different class altogether.

      And to be very honest, independently of such pleasurable exchanges like this, these days, we aren't nearly as interested in adding on to our migration guide as we used to be when we were walking that path. We are still happy to assist those genuine cases who have clearly done their homework and have a fighting chance.

      This goes for friends and strangers alike. Singaporean or otherwise.

      -S

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    6. [quote]People like ABS make me tend to want to avoid Sinkies even here in Melbourne. I've heard his species isn't unique actually.
      [/quote]

      then why is S in here reading n writing in nix blog? all filled with mostly singaporans

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  10. History aside, that's between ABS and you. This page has got nothing to do with your grievances with ABS. Learn to cut it loose, if you want to save some dignity. If you still don't get it, know the BIG word - Get a life!

    The sheer fact is I see you started calling ABS "first class hypocrite" and that's a solid fact on this page. Whatever is in here, stays here. Don't bring in your grandmother story to get people to buy that prehistoric grievances between ABS and you.

    Do you have a problem with people? Did you migrate because you can't communicate with people in Singapore and thinking by escaping to Australia you will get a new life? You sound like you got a serious character issue. Did you burn the bridge back in Singapore because you got a bad relationship with your bosses and colleagues in Singapore? Do you even have friends? Quite apparently, your only life left to is seeing a new rebirth right here on the Internet and this virtual space is all that you got. Pathetic!

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    2. ABS, thank me for what?!?! That's not the point. Don't you get it?

      He is whining to me that I just fucked his wife, but he can't do anything about it. And I can continue to brag how big and juicy my dick is that his wife can't resist it. That's exactly what he meant!

      Read again what he said. He is telling the whole world that he can call you "hypocrite" because he pleases and he can brag about his lame blog where he lives "uniquely" like a GOD, whereas every Sinkie is nothing but a "mediocre" specie who enjoys reading his bullshit like a mantra that he plans to stop writing.

      He ain't got balls to own up what he has done to you. Call him coward, if you want.
      Yet he has the cheeks to ask everyone to read his blog. That's his motive, in case you missed it.

      As if I care to read a whiner's blog. I have psychic power. I can tell he is a loser from reading a few replies he wrote. Asking me to read a loser's blog? You must be kidding me.

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  11. I think some comments in here are nasty, over the top and completely unnecessary. If you took a step back and reflected on your directive comments I'm sure you would be ashamed of yourselves for posting in the heat of the moment.

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  12. As an Australian tax payers, I definitely would not want my tax money wasted on you. Sponsorship is not like what you think. You have to meet the skilled migrant points and at this moment you will have to be invited to apply by the governments be it state or federal. Sponsorship means you gain addtional points which is not many on condition that you leave a sum of money to deposit with the government. We definitely want your sons to study full fee here.

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  13. Only if ASSon’s bus stop acquaintance and others are half like DD NR,etc our little rock would not be ponded like so. And it seems this trait is so Uniquely ours that we forever will be a tiny little speck wherever we go… don’t get trampled on or be used like a stepping stones can steal laugh already, let alone “contribute” to a host country in any meaningful or significant way …

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