Do kids of employees at int'l schools get tuition breaks?

[BedokAmerican]

Does anybody know if children whose parents work at an International School get a discount on tuition? If so, what type of discount?

It might vary from school to school, but I'd welcome any experience/feedback/knowledge on this topic.

Thank you.

[gonzales]

I believe they do (in some cases at least) but I can't put a number on it.

Thinking of taking up teaching to ease the burden? Good call.

[scarbowl]

I believe UWC gives a 50% break.

[offshoreoildude]

Some schools allow a certain no of kids to attend for free. CIS does and ICS does I believe. (This applies to teachers - not sure about admin stafff).

[gonzales]

That's quite a good perk, assuming the base pay is competitive.

[offshoreoildude]

That's quite a good perk, assuming the base pay is competitive.

It's not. IME the housing allowances are dreadfully inadequate and the pay is a lifestyle pay... (i.e. come over to Asia, work a few years and then go home after having fun). Only the serious schools (SAS, Tanglin Trust) pay a decent wage.

[gonzales]

Still though, think of the holidays.

[offshoreoildude]

Still though, think of the holidays.

That's fine is both parts of a couple are teachers and the kids schooling is in sync.

In my case my US wife has school holidays that are out of sync with my SC son and I of course only get four weeks leave so it's all messed up trying to organise a family vacation.

[BedokAmerican]

I believe they do (in some cases at least) but I can't put a number on it.

Thinking of taking up teaching to ease the burden? Good call.

Well, my child is only a year old, but if we are still here in a few years, I'd like him to be able to attend school. I have a teaching license from the U.S. that expired many years ago so I probably couldn't work as a teacher. I was thinking maybe I would be able to work as a teacher's assistant, but I haven't looked into anything at this point except for browsing some int'l school web sites. However, school web sites don't list tuition breaks as a benefit (but according to some of your responses, that doesn't mean discounts aren't offered).

But from what I understand, the International Schools are preferred by expats but they're very pricey. Of course, local schools are an option, as is homeschooling.

[offshoreoildude]

I believe they do (in some cases at least) but I can't put a number on it.

Thinking of taking up teaching to ease the burden? Good call.

Well, my child is only a year old, but if we are still here in a few years, I'd like him to be able to attend school. I have a teaching license from the U.S. that expired many years ago so I probably couldn't work as a teacher. I was thinking maybe I would be able to work as a teacher's assistant, but I haven't looked into anything at this point except for browsing some int'l school web sites. However, school web sites don't list tuition breaks as a benefit (but according to some of your responses, that doesn't mean discounts aren't offered).

But from what I understand, the International Schools are preferred by expats but they're very pricey. Of course, local schools are an option, as is homeschooling.

Do you have experience? The lower int'l schools don't care too much about up to date licenses....

You won't make enough as an assistant or relief (maybe just on P/T tho) to qualify for a work pass (unless you're a DP on LOC).

The arrangement is basically a 'standard' arrangement understood by the International School community but yes, you'd have to check it out.

My wife is taking a job in August that will get our youngest into their school so I'm not talking out of my ass (I'll update this thread if I am).

[offshoreoildude]

In my wife's interview today it was confirmed that our SC daughter can attend FOC as part of the job T&C.

HOWEVER; to put this into context her pay will be about $4k a month as she is considered a 'local' due to being a dependent of mine (an SPR).

So where does this leave us. Schools offering a place to teachers is;

1. A benefit if you're here and your child's tuition is not covered by your employer (which is our case). So yes - it saves me USD$240000.

2. Not an abnormal benefit for an expat - all expats usually have their kids covered but we aren't expats - more like accidental SPRs. However I believe in my case I could have put an argument to my employer to cover my daughter if we moved out of Singapore, but not in Singapore as the little girl is an SC.

3. Not really worth moving into teaching for on it's if you have ANY other career that can pay > $6k a month and you only have one child (12 x 2k = 24k). Most schools limit the benefit to one kid per teaching parent (in our case - one).