To ensure that no students are deprived of education for lack of financial means, the Student Financial Assistance Agency provides financial assistance to needy students. Subject to a means test, the assistance available takes various forms such as fee remissions, grants and/or low-interest loans for pre-primary to tertiary education. The agency also administers non-means tested schemes of assistance and privately funded scholarships awarded on the basis of academic merit.

Means-tested Financial Assistance

Kindergarten pupils receive assistance to pay tuition fees up to the weighted average of the fees charged by non-profit-making kindergartens or the actual fee, whichever is the less. In the 2004-05 school year, 55 137 pupils were granted fee remission totalling $484.9 million. Starting from the 2005-06 school year, the agency further expanded the fee assistance scheme to cover all needy children receiving pre-primary services, including those originally covered by the Child Care Centre Fee Assistance Scheme, which will be cancelled.

Assistance for needy primary and secondary school students takes the form of grants for the purchase of textbooks, subsidies for home-school travel and remission of tuition fees for those studying at Secondary 4 to 7 in public sector schools. In the 2004-05 school year, $486.7 million was provided to 362 561 students to purchase essential textbooks. A further $302.4 million was disbursed for travel subsidies for 240 820 students. In addition, 97 308 Secondary 4 to 7 students had their tuition fees waived, either fully or by a half. Of the students taking the HKCEE and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, 14 511 had their examination fees paid on their behalf at a cost of $14.5 million.

At the post-secondary and tertiary level, grants, low-interest loans and travel subsidies are made available to needy, full-time students pursuing eligible courses at UGC-funded institutions, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education of the VTC, the Prince Philip Dental Hospital and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. In the 2004-05 academic year, $941 million in grants and $465.7 million in loans were provided to 36 287 students.

For eligible people pursuing accredited, self-financing post-secondary education programmes leading to a sub-degree qualification, the means-tested assistance is in the form of a grant or a loan to cover tuition fees. In the 2004-05 academic year, $141.5 million in grants and $87.2 million in loans were provided to 7 150 eligible students. In addition, 13 full-time students of the Hong Kong Shue Yan College were provided with $100,000 in grants and $200,000 in loans. Travel subsidies totalling $98.9 million were also provided to 38 365 students of the above institutions.

Non-means Tested Financial Assistance

Financial assistance for meeting tuition fees and living expenses, as appropriate, may also take the form of non-means tested loans. These loans are interest-bearing on the basis of no-gain, no-loss to the Government. Access to these loans is open to any person pursuing eligible full-time or part-time publicly funded or self-financing local award-bearing programmes as well as professional or continuing education courses provided in Hong Kong by registered schools, non-local universities and recognised training bodies. In the 2004-05 academic year, 34 609 people obtained non-means tested loans amounting to $1.18 billion.

Scholarships and Other Assistance Schemes

The Student Financial Assistance Agency administers many privately funded scholarships and assistance schemes for school students. Scholarships are mainly merit-based and are provided for both local studies and studies at overseas institutions.

Tuition Fee Reimbursement for Project Yi Jin Students

The Government provides Project Yi Jin students with a 30 per cent reimbursement of tuition fees paid for each module that has been successfully completed. Since the 2002-03 school year, the level of tuition fee assistance for needy students who pass a means test has been raised to 100 per cent.

Continuing Education Fund

A $5 billion Continuing Education Fund was launched in June 2002 to subsidise adults who want to pursue continuing education and training courses in specified sectors. Eligible applicants are reimbursed 80 per cent of their fees, up to $10,000, on successful completion of a reimbursable course or module forming part of the course. The fund covers five economic sectors and three skill domains. Over 253 400 applications had been received by the end of 2005.