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ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
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
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
Last edited by mkram on Thu, 13 Oct 2016 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: ASTAR - Scientist II - Housing and child education allowance
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.
I not lawyer/teacher/CPA.
You've been arrested? Law Society of Singapore can provide referrals.
You want an International School job? School website or http://www.ISS.edu
Your rugrat needs a School? Avoid for profit schools
You need Tax advice? Ask a CPA
You ran away without doing NS? Shame on you!
You've been arrested? Law Society of Singapore can provide referrals.
You want an International School job? School website or http://www.ISS.edu
Your rugrat needs a School? Avoid for profit schools
You need Tax advice? Ask a CPA
You ran away without doing NS? Shame on you!
Re: ASTAR - Scientist II - Housing and child education allowance
Thanks PNGMK,PNGMK wrote: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.
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.
Re: ASTAR - Scientist II - Housing and child education allowance
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.
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
That housing allowance is low for sure.
I not lawyer/teacher/CPA.
You've been arrested? Law Society of Singapore can provide referrals.
You want an International School job? School website or http://www.ISS.edu
Your rugrat needs a School? Avoid for profit schools
You need Tax advice? Ask a CPA
You ran away without doing NS? Shame on you!
You've been arrested? Law Society of Singapore can provide referrals.
You want an International School job? School website or http://www.ISS.edu
Your rugrat needs a School? Avoid for profit schools
You need Tax advice? Ask a CPA
You ran away without doing NS? Shame on you!
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
900 sgd/month is a master bedroom in a hdb (public) apartment or a common room in a condominium.
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
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.PNGMK wrote:That housing allowance is low for sure.
With no schooling allowance either , he is now exploring options elsewhere.
Life is short, paddle harder!!
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
I am fairly sure the OP is capable of adding 1k a month to that allowance and getting a place of their own.bro75 wrote:900 sgd/month is a master bedroom in a hdb (public) apartment or a common room in a condominium.




Life is short, paddle harder!!
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
Barnsley, bro75, PNGMK,
thank you very much for the inputs. My picture is getting clearer!
thank you very much for the inputs. My picture is getting clearer!
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Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
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
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
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
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.
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.
Re: RE: Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
If your ID is some indication of your origin, 900 $ is like the standard housing allowance ....mkram wrote: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.
I won't expect any revision unless you are In a strong position to negotiate.
That's my 2 cents.
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
FYI you might want to ask about the performance review system in place. *Cough* stacked ranking *cough*
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Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
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Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
That's still used!?Sporkin wrote:stacked ranking
Re: ASTAR - Housing and child education allowance
It's not a classical stack ranking. It is heavily evidence based.DrScrumMaster wrote:That's still used!?Sporkin wrote:stacked ranking
@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.
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