We thank Mr Ivan Goh Sian Lung for his letter (Why are NUS fees going up despite billion-dollar reserves?, Aug 15).

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is committed to providing an affordable, high-quality education to all our students, regardless of their financial background.

Currently, Singaporean students pay around 25 per cent of the total cost of an undergraduate education.

Tuition fees are reviewed annually to factor in cost inflation and to maintain the relevance and quality of education. Any fee increases will affect only new cohorts and not current students.

Notwithstanding, for the 2019 academic year, most of our undergraduate courses did not see any increase in tuition fees.

Further, lower-income students can apply for various bursaries to further defray course fees. These include Ministry of Education-funded bursaries as well as those funded by NUS through our fund-raising efforts.

In 2018, close to 8,800 undergraduates, or 28 per cent of the students, received scholarships and financial aid. More than 90 per cent of them paid less than $5,000 in tuition fees, with a third paying no tuition fees at all.

Donations also enable NUS to offer additional learning opportunities for students' exposure, including overseas exchanges and entrepreneurship programmes.

We are deeply grateful to our donors, who have chosen to partner with NUS. We hope that they continue to support the university so that our students benefit from an affordable and good-quality education, regardless of their financial situation.

Bernard Tan Cheng Yian (Professor)

Senior Vice-Provost

Undergraduate Education

National University of Singapore