SMU will offer new grants and scholarships to ensure that the tuition fees of its financially needy Singaporean undergraduates are fully covered throughout their four years there. The new initiative, called SMU Access, is supported by an $8 million seed fund from local charity Quantedge Foundation, the university announced yesterday. Eligibility for the SMU Access grant component is based solely on students' household economic circumstances, such as per capita income and housing type. The SMU Access scholarship component, called the Quantedge Foundation Scholarship, will be given to about 20 to 25 financially needy students with strong academic potential - conditional on them maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least three out of four each year.

This broad-based initiative is the first of its kind by any university in Singapore. There is no limit to the number of recipients covered under SMU Access, and could benefit more than 80 students from every new cohort. SMU will provide funding support under SMU Access through government grants, its internal resources as well as gifts from external donors. SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer said: "This initiative essentially guarantees that every SMU student who is eligible, regardless of GPA levels, will not have to eschew a university education for financial reasons."