Most international applicants look up NUS tuition, see a figure in the low twenties of thousands of Singapore dollars, and conclude that Singapore undercuts the United States and Australia. That figure is the subsidised one. Singapore's Ministry of Education pays part of your fee through the Tuition Grant, and in exchange you agree to work for a Singapore-registered employer for three years after graduation[1]. Decline the grant and the same degree costs roughly twice as much, and you lose access to NUS and MOE aid for your whole candidature. That single fork decides what you can afford, which scholarships are open to you, and where you spend the years right after graduation. Settle it before you compare an NUS offer with anything else.
Location
Singapore, Singapore
Establishment year
1905
Students
30,869
International students
8,643
Female students
50%
Place in ratings
There's not enough data to display the dynamics of this rating.
By subject
Subject
Place in QS 2024
Engineering & Technology
13
Social Sciences & Management
14
Accounting & Finance
14
Anatomy & Physiology
16
Natural Sciences
29
Life Sciences & Medicine
31
Arts & Humanities
37
Studying abroad doesn’t break the bank anymore
Universities for any budget
Scholarship options
Installment plans up to 2 years
NUS: what matters before you apply
Application window, August 2027 intake
Mid-December 2026 to mid-February 2027, provisional[2]
Teaching language and minimum score
English: IELTS 6.5, TOEFL iBT 92 or PTE 62; Law asks IELTS 7.0[3]
Tuition with the Tuition Grant
16,235-23,101 USD per year, most undergraduate programmes[4]
16 hours per week in term, full time in vacations[7]
After graduation
Three years with a Singapore employer if you took the grant
Size
29600 undergraduates, 15400 graduate students, 15 colleges, faculties and schools[8]
Advantages of studying at NUS
🎓 The subject table matters more here than the overall rank
28 subjects reached the global top 10 of QS by Subject 2026, against 14 in 2023[9]. Read your own discipline, not the headline above.
💰 Singapore subsidises international undergraduates
The Tuition Grant covers internationals at the autonomous universities, NUS included[10]; you opt in inside the ordinary application form.
🔒 Your fee is locked to your admission year
NUS prices by cohort, so a four-year budget can be built once and trusted[4].
💼 Graduate outcomes are published every year
Of the Class of 2025 in the labour force, 89.8% were working within six months, median 3,601 USD per month full time[11].
The catches in an NUS offer
⛓️ The grant is a contract, and exiting it is expensive
Three years of full-time work for a Singapore entity; leave early and you repay the subsidy, with 10% interest compounded annually for graduate students[12].
🕵️ Nothing is published, so you cannot estimate your chances
No admit rate, and no minimum grade for international qualifications — Indian Central and ISC applicants need only a good pass in five subjects including English[13]. Agency cut-offs are not NUS policy.
📉 Hiring softened even as pay rose
Full-time permanent employment among fresh graduates fell from 79.4% for the Class of 2024 to 75.2% for the Class of 2025[11] — and a bonded graduate needs Singapore employment specifically.
What replaced the old NUS faculties
NUS runs 15 colleges, faculties and schools over three campuses — Kent Ridge, Bukit Timah for Law and public policy, Outram for Duke-NUS Medical School[8]. Two mergers redrew the undergraduate map: Arts and Social Sciences plus Science became the College of Humanities and Sciences in 2021, Engineering plus Design and Environment the College of Design and Engineering in 2022, so there is no Faculty of Science to apply to.
Campus Type
Urban
Library
Yes
The catalogue holds 60 bachelor's degrees and 174 graduate programmes; NUS College layers an interdisciplinary track over your major.
These are AY2026/2027 cohort rates — the newest published, with the 9% GST international students pay included. August 2027 entrants get a new table around March, and ASEAN nationals pay less than shown[4].
Undergraduate programme
With the Tuition Grant
Without the grant
Humanities and Sciences
16,235 USD
27,804 USD
Computing, Design and Engineering
16,235 USD
30,118 USD
Business
16,842 USD
25,339 USD
Law
23,101 USD
33,722 USD
Music
43,129 USD
112,165 USD
Medicine and Dentistry
64,143-66,609 USD
144,255 USD
Academic calendar
Semesters
Financial Aid
Yes
Bachelor
Local28,221USD/year
Foreign13,386USD/year
Master
Local28,221USD/year
Foreign11,631USD/year
Doctorate
Foreign16,306USD/year
Each semester adds a Health Service Fee of 121 USD for compulsory insurance and a Student Services Fee of 72 USD or 85 USD[14]. Campus accommodation costs 3,035-7,806 USD a year plus a meal plan[5].
Applying to NUS for the August intake
Admission is holistic: the University Entrance Examination is discontinued, there is no NUS-wide test, and JEE is not required[15]. Everyone submits up to four achievements and five short answers, and Law, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Architecture and the design degrees add interviews or tests.
From your qualification to your Student's Pass
Find your qualification category. CBSE and ISC, the IB Diploma, non-Singapore A-levels and the American diploma are named individually; WAEC and Philippine senior high school sit under Other High School Qualifications[16].
Check whether a standardised test is compulsory: yes for that Other category and Indian State Board applicants, no for CBSE and ISC. Americans need five Advanced Placement courses, or three plus the ACT or the SAT, and AP Calculus BC outside Law.
Sit IELTS or TOEFL unless your qualification exempts you; scores last two years.
Write the achievements and short answers properly, then apply in the December to February window and state whether you want the Tuition Grant and NUS College.
If shortlisted, sit the interview or test around April; release results on time, IB under code 000690[17]. Then accept, confirm the grant and apply for the Student's Pass via SOLAR+.
Master's and PhD: faculty by faculty
Start at the programme page: graduate admission runs at faculty level, deadlines are not unified, and many close before the undergraduate window.
Establish the funding class — MOE-subsidised with a Service Obligation bond, or self-funded with neither. Most professional master's degrees are self-funded.
For a research degree, name the group and a potential supervisor; fit decides these files.
Assemble transcripts, certificates, references and, for doctorates, a proposal. Subsidised international research students pay 16,614 USD a year in Computing, Engineering and Science, against 33,190 USD unsubsidised[12].
The NUS cycle, December to July
Stage
When, August 2027 intake (provisional)
Undergraduate applications open
Mid-December 2026
Undergraduate applications close
Mid-February 2027
NUS Scholarships close; referee reports due
19 March; reports by 26 March
Admission outcomes
By July 2027
For comparison, the 2026 cycle ran from 3 December 2025 to 23 February 2026[15].
Four undergraduate awards are open to internationals and none needs a separate form — the admission application considers you. The ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship covers citizens of ASEAN states other than Singapore; the Science and Technology Undergraduate Scholarship citizens of Asian countries in Computing, Engineering or Science; the NUS International Undergraduate Scholarship and the NUS College International Scholarship any nationality but Singaporean. NUS publishes no award numbers, so plan as though you will not get one. Some tiers add a layered scholarship application of their own[18], and need-based financial aid is open only to grant holders.
16 hours a week, and the bond afterwards
Those 16 term-time hours are an exemption granted to the institution, not to you: NUS sits on the Ministry of Manpower's approved list, and private providers such as James Cook University Singapore do not. On campus, the Centre for Future-ready Graduates runs coaching and the TalentConnect employer platform.
A bonded graduate then works three years for a Singapore-registered employer, in practice on an employer-sponsored Employment Pass. Without the grant there is no obligation — and no automatic right to stay, since Singapore has no post-study work visa like the UK Graduate Route or Australia's subclass 485.
Order official transcripts and certificates in English early, adding a certified diploma translation where the original is in another language; school offices slow in exam season. CBSE, ISC and IB candidates must authorise their board to send results directly — a missed authorisation stalls a complete file.
Pay the application fee by card or PayNow at submission. Apply for the Student's Pass through SOLAR+ two to three months before term: 34 USD processing[19], then 46 USD on issue and 23 USD more if your nationality needs a multiple-journey visa[20]. Request campus housing the moment the portal opens.
The bond, answered
Is there an enrolment deposit once I accept the offer?
No separate deposit appears in the admissions guide or prospectus: the first tuition instalment commits you.
Does turning down the Tuition Grant improve my chances of admission?
Nothing in NUS's guidance links the two: it is a fee decision, not a selection criterion.
Can the bond be deferred if I go straight into a PhD?
MOE handles deferment case by case, not as an entitlement. Get it in writing[1].
What exactly is NUS College, and does it replace my degree?
No — it is an interdisciplinary layer over your major, assessed by extra short answers and an essay. A computing student still graduates in computing.
Will an NUS degree be recognised at home?
NUS is an autonomous university under Singapore's Ministry of Education, so evaluators treat its degrees as standard. For regulated professions, check your national licensing body.
Choose NUS when your subject ranks high in its own table, not just the university overall, when three years of Singapore employment is acceptable, and when the subsidised fee beats your American or Australian alternative; our Singapore country guide covers the rest.
Look elsewhere when you want an unbonded route to stay and work — the University of Toronto with Canada's post-graduation work permit, or the University of Hong Kong with IANG — or if your target is Medicine or Dentistry.
Before you apply: a short checklist
Settle the Tuition Grant question with your family before offers arrive.
Diarise the March scholarship deadline separately from the February admission deadline.
Order certified translations and authorise your board to release results to NUS.
Professional assistance in applying to a foreign university
