Bursary

Was having a project discussion with my classmates when one of them exclaimed, "eh! Bursary applications open already!" Naturally, I went to check out the criteria for applying. I've only applied for bursary once in my whole life, my last studying semester in Poly. And I was only eligible for the lowest tier, which gave a pay-out of $400-ish. That was quite a lot for me alr, 'cos at least I got something!

My brother started his air steward career 2 years ago and so, with his basic salary and my dad's salary, I'm eligible to apply for the current MOE bursary, which has a much more substantial pay-out of $1.3k per annum. And this is the lowest tier. The other tier is $2.6k payout and CDC's bursary only has one tier with $3.6k of pay-out. Anyway, long story short, I can't apply for any of their tiers 'cos although my brother's basic salary is really low, his allowances make up for it. His allowances can easily be a lot higher than the basic pay, and the eligible PCI includes income that consists of all allowances and whatnot. 

I whined to my boy about it and here's one thing I think my boy has that not many people his age, or mine has. Maturity. He told me not to abuse the funds, 'cos there are a lot of people out there who need it more than I do. I'd probably just blow all the pay-out on shopping, eating or other entertainment purposes while some people might really need it to pay off their school fees, or household bills, or even their daily living expenses. I know there's many people like me, who would just spend it all on themselves but I guess, I shouldn't compare with them and decide that they're luckier than me for being eligible to get the bursary.

I'm quite glad that my boy is so grounded, and believes that hard work can get me what I want, and I don't have to abuse the funds although his family situation is not as good as he'd probably like it to be. He said that I've hands and legs, and I can work to get the money. 

It's quite amazing that even though he's younger than me, he's more mature than me on some levels, and I have a number of things to learn from him. I guess that's why I don't always remember that he's younger than me.