Scholar cannot fail

There, there, another reason NOT to take up any of these 'scholarships'.

The Electric New Paper :
He refuses to pay, then...
# Scholar fails 2 exams in second year
# PSA counsels him, but he fails another exam in third year
# PSA terminates scholarship and asks for return of money
WHEN he started his course at the National University of Singapore five years ago, Mr Chong Kwong Ki's future looked promising.

By Karen Wong
09 December 2005

WHEN he started his course at the National University of Singapore five years ago, Mr Chong Kwong Ki's future looked promising.

He was awarded a scholarship by PSA Corp to study computer engineering. It would have eventually paved his career with Singapore's port authority and a world-class container transshipment centre.

FELL APART

But his plans fell apart when his scholarship was terminated in his last semester two years ago.

The reason: He had failed three of his earlier exams.

Then PSA demanded a refund of the scholarship because he was deemed to have broken the rules by failing his exams.

He refused to pay up, so PSA sued to recover the money.

It is the first reported case in at least 10 years of such a dispute between a scholar and a sponsor organisation going all the way to the High Court.

Last month, the High Court upheld a District Court ruling in favour of PSA Corp and ordered the return of the scholarship money.

Now, Mr Chong, who is working as a software engineer, faces a debt of over $50,000, and a hefty legal bill on top of it.

In April 2000, Mr Chong, who was a good student from a top junior college, was granted a local IT scholarship to study computer engineering at NUS.

Apart from tuition fees and an annual allowance, he was also entitled to other perks, such as an interest-free loan of $4,000 for a computer.

All was well until he failed two exams in his second year. In his court statement, he said this was because he had been concentrating on other major subjects and projects.

He subsequently retook these exams and passed.

It is understood that he was then counselled by PSA.

TOO LATE

But in his third year, Mr Chong got another F. He retook the exam and passed with a C.

But it was too late.

In his last semester of the four-year course, in March 2003, the PSA told him his scholarship was being cancelled.

Then came the next blow for him: PSA wanted him to return all the money under the agreement, including tuition fees and book allowances, plus interest.

That came to nearly $63,000.

Mr Chong told The New Paper he did not expect such a drastic move and had refused to pay up. (See report on facing page.)

So PSA sued him for the money.

His two friends who stood as guarantors for him were also sued.

In court, Mr Chong's lawyer, Mr Leonard Loo, argued that while Mr Chong had failed three semester exams, he had redeemed himself by passing when he retook the exams.

He subsequently graduated with a third-class honours computer engineering degree.

But District Judge Valerie Thean disagreed.

She noted, in her judgment dated 20 Oct, that on 'plain reading', the agreement said that PSA was entitled to terminate upon Mr Chong failing 'any examination'.

'Any examination', she said, would also include the semester exams.

She ruled PSA was permitted to cancel the agreement.

Then came the part about how much Mr Chong would have to pay.

She noted that PSA had spent some $49,493 in tuition fees, annual allowances, book allowances and hostel fees.

So, he or his two guarantors, would have to pay this amount.

Judge Thean ordered that Mr Chong must also repay the $4,000 interest-free loan he took in November 2000 for a computer.

PSA had also wanted Mr Chong to pay compound interest of nearly $12,000 and $1,500 for administrative fees.

But the judge said she did not have the sufficient information to make a ruling on this.

In all, she ruled, Mr Chong has to repay PSA about $53,500. His two guarantors were liable to pay about $49,500, should Mr Chong fail to pay.

But Mr Chong appealed against her decision.

The appeal was dismissed in the High Court early last month by Justice Kan Ting Chiu.

A spokesman for PSA Corp said: 'PSA has a very well-established scholarship programme that provides opportunities for bright and worthy candidates to achieve their full potential.

'PSA needs to uphold the credibility, quality and integrity of its scholarship programme.

'As competition for scholarships is very keen, it is only fair to other applicants that scholars be expected to fulfil their obligations to perform with satisfactory results.'

She added: 'Before legal action is taken to recover the sum due under the scholarship contract, several attempts will be made to reach an amicable settlement.

'If the offers are not accepted, PSA regrets that it will be compelled to recover the sum through legal proceedings.'

The New Paper understands that PSA had counselled Mr Chong three times before it terminated his scholarship agreement.

No scholarships terminated before

WHILE most scholarship agreements have provisions for termination due to poor performance, this hardly happens because scholars rarely fail their exams.

When approached for comment, the Public Service Division (PSD), which awards an average of 50 Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarships each year, said that in the past 10 years, it has not encountered a case of a scholarship being cancelled due to a scholarship holder's poor performance.

A spokesman for the PSD said: 'PSC officers are in constant touch with our scholars and provide support and advice to help them during their scholarship period.

GENERALLY IMPROVE

'PSC scholars are expected to graduate with a good honours degree and the vast majority do.

'For the few who turn in lower grades, we will consider the circumstances leading to such grades.

'In addition, we will help them adjust and work at improving their grades.

'There has not been any need to terminate any scholarship in the past 10 years since those who needed help generally improved with counselling and assistance.'

Did not expect scholarship to be withdrawn

HE had only one more semester to go before graduation.

So Mr Chong Kwong Ki, 27, said he was quite shocked when he was told then that his scholarship would be withdrawn.

In a telephone interview with The New Paper, he said: 'When they terminated the scholarship, I had already cleared all my subjects. And I was in my last semester.

'I wasn't expecting the termination.'

Did he think he was doing well?

Mr Chong, who is now a software engineer, said: 'Not really. But then, I did not expect it to be so drastic.

'If I was not up to their scholarship standards, they should have terminated the agreement earlier rather than sue me only after I graduated.'

As a result of the case, Mr Chong is facing a hefty legal bill, which may add up to a few thousand dollars, on top of the scholarship bill he has to repay.

Nonetheless, he is taking full responsibility for what has happened.

'I just have to pay them.'

He added that he was not going to get the two friends who had signed the bond to cough up the money, even though they were also legally liable.

'There's nothing they can do. I'm not going to get them into trouble, or make them pay.'

He added: 'I'm paying the whole sum and my lawyer is now working on a repayment schedule.

'I have to find some way to pay them.'

What now?

He did not want to say more about the case, and sounded composed: 'Well, life goes on.'

Remember, your stellar A level (or poly) results are no guarantee that you will succeed at the undergraduate level. Or by extension, good undergrad GPA =/= shoo-in success in Grad School. Ironically in research, we learn by failing (most of the times).

Any wonder why scholars are under pressure to take 'easy' classes? Makes a mockery of the 'scholarship' process, isn't it? You become averse to risk (and the oh-so-interesting/in-depth/difficult classes), knowing that any failure on your part could result in a hefty financial penalty.

Oh yeah, also think twice about agreeing to be guarantors for your scholar friends. Be absolutely sure you got enough funds to pay if he/she fails exams/modules/courses or absconds.