ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance

[mkram]

Hi all,

I have been offered a position at ASTAR as Scientist II. I have 6 yrs of research experience after PhD (both in Western Europe), and good publication record in high impact journals. I will be moving from Western Europe. I am married and have a school going kid.

I have been offered a maximum of 900 SGD/month of housing allowance, but no child education allowance. I have a few friends in Singapore, and they are all working in private companies. They all say that the housing allowance offered to me is low and I should get some of the school fee also as the part of the package.

I haven't accepted the offer yet.

Is it Is it common in ASTAR to give (partial) school fees also? what are the typical numbers for the Housing allowance and school fee allowance?

Highly appreciate any help!

Thanks,
Ram

[PNGMK]

I don't know about ASTAR but you could be looking at a cost of at least S$24,000 for education for your child if ASTAR don't have same arrangement to guarantee the child a place in a local school. Note that local school fees for foreign kids are going up to $600 a month. This is your deal breaker.

[mkram]

I don't know about ASTAR but you could be looking at a cost of at least S$24,000 for education for your child if ASTAR don't have same arrangement to guarantee the child a place in a local school. Note that local school fees for foreign kids are going up to $600 a month. This is your deal breaker.

Thanks PNGMK,

this is what I am concerned about. Paying such high school fees. What about the house allowance? what is a typical number? I hear about a wide range of 800-2200 on this forum. This is not helping me to know if I am correctly offered.

[x9200]

I don't think it is that common right now to be offered any children education allowance. Besides, Scientist 2 is pretty much at the bottom of the ladder.

[PNGMK]

That housing allowance is low for sure.

[bro75]

900 sgd/month is a master bedroom in a hdb (public) apartment or a common room in a condominium.

[Barnsley]

That housing allowance is low for sure.

One of my friends who works in that field lost his housing allowance after being here 7 years, new hires still get some sort of housing allowance as part of the package.

With no schooling allowance either , he is now exploring options elsewhere.

[Barnsley]

900 sgd/month is a master bedroom in a hdb (public) apartment or a common room in a condominium.

I am fairly sure the OP is capable of adding 1k a month to that allowance and getting a place of their own.

[mkram]

Barnsley, bro75, PNGMK,

thank you very much for the inputs. My picture is getting clearer!

[calugaruvaxile]

dude, i've been in your shoes 8 years ago. i was married but no kids. i got SGD1200 housing allowance (usually it was 900). if you have kids they will pay the school (partially). not the kikigarten, the private school. but ... there is a catch ... 5 years max on scientist 2!! and if you make the error of becoming PR before the contract renewal (after 3 years) you lose everything (all the allowances) after the initial contract expires.

so if you're in a hit-and-run mission, stay in sg for 3 to 5 years and then eject. if you want something stable, go elsewhere.

for the record, the 900 allowance doesn't cover more than 40% of the rent (if you want to live decently) but without it and with the pay for scientist 2 it will be mission impossible

[mkram]

Hi calugaruvaxile,

It is really comforting to know to learn the experience of someone in the same shoes. I was unsure if it will be unrealistic if more housing allowance and kids education support is sought. I will ask to revise their offer and see if they can take the realities into account.

[ecureilx]

Hi calugaruvaxile,

It is really comforting to know to learn the experience of someone in the same shoes. I was unsure if it will be unrealistic if more housing allowance and kids education support is sought. I will ask to revise their offer and see if they can take the realities into account.

If your ID is some indication of your origin, 900 $ is like the standard housing allowance ....

I won't expect any revision unless you are In a strong position to negotiate.

That's my 2 cents.

[Sporkin]

FYI you might want to ask about the performance review system in place. *Cough* stacked ranking *cough*

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

[DrScrumMaster]

stacked ranking

That's still used!?

[x9200]

stacked ranking

That's still used!?

It's not a classical stack ranking. It is heavily evidence based.

@Sporkin, asking about the system will result in an answer that is perfectly convincing as reasonable. There are problems with the system, but they are somewhere else.