Planning For The Cost of Pre-School Education

The education system in Singapore is well-known or notorious for being highly competitive with examples of parents being kiasu and sending their children for enrichment programs. As I took some time to ponder over this, it hit me that the cost of sending my kid to child care/kindergarten in the near future will probably be one of the bigger expenses required since her birth.

What better way to determine how much is required in a couple of year's time than some number crunching. heh

Wow. Definitely not cheap.

For this scenario, I considered placing my child in half-day ($550/month) vs full-day sessions ($720/month) in 'Anchor Operators'. The cost calculated above is solely the school fees and does not include the miscellaneous fees of school uniforms etc. It also does not account for any other subsidies that our family may qualify for. These subsidy programs may change and it is difficult to predict what subsidy programs might be available in 3 years time. I also used a conservative estimate of inflation pegged at 1%. May or may not be the actual case.

One way to to tackle this expense of child-care services is to use the Child Development Account and pay for such expenses. What is clear to me now is that when I send my child for pre-school education, I would need anywhere from ~$27,000 to $36,000.

Hopefully, this post serves as a guide for parents who are planning for their child's education journey. Share with me your thoughts and comments on Singapore's education system and the cost of education here!

SG FI Dad, out.