MOE Financial Assistance Scheme: What Singapore SEN Families Need to Know

Your child's therapy costs S$300 a month. Private assessments ran another S$2,000. Shadow teacher fees are piling up. And on top of all that, the school still sends home bills for textbooks, uniforms, and bus fares.

If your household income qualifies, the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) eliminates several of those school-related costs entirely — freeing up cash you can redirect toward your child's SEN support.

What MOE FAS Actually Covers

The MOE Financial Assistance Scheme is a means-tested programme available to Singapore Citizens attending government or government-aided schools. It covers:

• Full waiver of standard school fees and standard miscellaneous fees
• Free textbooks provided by the school
• Free school attire (uniforms, PE attire, shoes)
• Transport subsidy of S$17 per month (for students taking public transport)
• Meal subsidies of S$3.80 per meal for 10 meals per week (primary) or S$4.50 per meal (secondary)

For SPED school students, the benefits work slightly differently. SPED school fees for Singapore Citizens are already capped at S$90 per month after MOE subsidies, but FAS can reduce this further. The SPED Financial Assistance Scheme provides additional fee waivers and transport support for families meeting the income criteria.

Who Qualifies

MOE revised the FAS income thresholds upward in 2026, expanding coverage to an additional 31,000 students. You qualify if your family meets either criterion:

• Gross household income (GHI) of S$3,000 or less per month, OR
• Per capita household income (PCHI) of S$750 or less per month

PCHI is calculated by dividing your total gross household income by the number of household members. For larger families or those with multiple dependents — common in SEN households where one parent may have reduced work capacity — the PCHI threshold is often the easier route to qualification.

How to Apply

Applications go through your child's school. You'll need:

• NRIC copies for all household members
• Latest 3 months of payslips or CPF contribution history for all working adults
• Latest IRAS Notice of Assessment
• Any proof of unemployment, retirement, or medical leave (if applicable)

The school's administrative office processes the application. Most families receive a decision within 2-4 weeks. If you're rejected, you can appeal — ask the school to reconsider using updated documentation or additional context about your household circumstances.

Stacking FAS with SEN-Specific Subsidies

Here's what most parents miss: MOE FAS and SEN-specific financial schemes are not mutually exclusive. They address different cost categories, and qualifying families should be applying for both.

MOE FAS handles school-level costs — fees, books, uniforms, meals, transport.

SEN-specific schemes handle therapy and support costs:

• Assistive Technology Fund (ATF) — up to 90% subsidy for assistive devices, with a S$40,000 lifetime cap. The PCHI threshold was raised to S$4,800 in 2026, meaning most middle-income families now qualify.
• EIPIC subsidies — for children under 6, early intervention fees can drop to as low as S$10-S$50 per month for the lowest income brackets.
• Medisave (CDMP) — up to S$500-S$700 per year from CPF Medisave for outpatient treatment of ADHD, Autism, and other qualifying conditions.
• ComCare — short-to-medium-term cash assistance for families in financial difficulty.

A family earning S$2,800 per month with two children could simultaneously receive MOE FAS (eliminating school costs), ATF (subsidising a communication device), and CDMP Medisave withdrawals (offsetting monthly therapy). The combined savings can exceed S$5,000 per year.

The SPED School FAS Difference

If your child attends a SPED school rather than a mainstream MOE school, the financial assistance structure differs:

• SPED school fees are already heavily subsidised — capped at S$90/month for citizens after MOE grants
• The SPED FAS provides additional fee waivers for families meeting income criteria
• Transport subsidies may be higher for SPED students due to specialised bus routes
• Some SSAs (Social Service Agencies) operating SPED schools have their own bursary funds

Contact the SPED school's social worker directly. They can assess your eligibility across all available schemes simultaneously, which saves you from the common problem of applying piecemeal and missing overlapping benefits.

What FAS Doesn't Cover

FAS specifically addresses school-related costs. It does not cover:

• Private therapy fees (speech therapy, occupational therapy, ABA)
• Private psycho-educational assessments (typically S$1,600-S$3,200)
• Shadow teacher costs (S$1,000+ per month)
• Enrichment or tuition programmes

For these expenses, you need to look at the separate SEN subsidy landscape — ATF, Medisave CDMP, ComCare, and SSA-specific bursaries.

Next Steps for SEN Families

If you're spending significant money on both school costs and SEN support, start with MOE FAS as the foundation. It's straightforward to apply, decisions come quickly, and the savings on school basics free up real budget for the therapy and support costs that FAS doesn't touch.

For a complete walkthrough of every financial entitlement available to SEN families in Singapore — including the exact PCHI thresholds, application sequences, and strategies for stacking subsidies — the Singapore Special Ed Parent Rights Compass maps every scheme across MOE, MSF, and MOH in one place.

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