Undergraduate Nur Syazwan Syamsuddin’s life hit a rough patch in April when he and his parents tested positive for COVID-19.
Then, his mother lost her teaching job at a pre-school which closed down while she was in hospital.
To make ends meet, he and his two younger siblings pitched in to help, with Mr Syazwan, a second-year student at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), signing up as a GrabFood delivery rider.
Last month, he received $2,000 from SIT Student Relief Fund, which helped ease the burden of paying for household bills and groceries on his father, a Customs officer.
Mr Syazwan is among more than 450 SIT students who have received help from the fund, set up earlier this year to help students whose families have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly $1.5 million has been raised for the fund through donations, and it is being disbursed to more students. Each student gets up to $2,000 to cover living and other necessary expenses.
SIT brought forward by two months to April its window for students to apply for financial aid, due to the COVID-19 situation.
It has since received more than 3,800 applications for bursaries, scholarships and grants, including the relief fund. This is up by nearly 10% compared with the previous academic year.
Its president Tan Thiam Soon said the university is “extremely grateful” for “this very timely support from the community”.
“Having more donors step forward to help would certainly alleviate the financial burden faced by these students (and their families), so they can better focus on their studies.”
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 16 September 2020