Government Schemes

The scheme aims to provide means-tested financial assistance to eligible full-time local students studying in the tertiary institutions.
 

To be eligible for application, a student needs to:

• be a registered full-time student taking up an exclusively UGC-funded or publicly-funded student place at a recognized intuition; and

• have the right of abode in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong) or have resided in Hong Kong continuously for 3 complete years prior to the commencement of the course.

Interested students have to apply on-line. Means-tested assessment on income and family asset will be conducted for each application. The level of financial assistance depends on the financial condition of the family.
 

The offer will be in the form of grant and low interest rate loan. Grant is for tuition fee and the academic expenses while loan is for living expenses. The maximum grant for an undergraduate is equal to the tuition fee payable to the recognized institution and the academic expenses for his/her course of study plus the other compulsory fees. The maximum loan for living expenses is $58,890 for 2024/25. The interest will be charged from the commencement date of the loan repayment period.

The scheme is to supplement the TSFS to provide financial assistance in the form of loan to eligible students to settle tuition fees. Loan is offered at a cost recovery interest rate. The amount offered is related to the grant and loan a student receives if student has applied for TSFS at the same year. The maximum loan offered would cover the student’s tuition fee.
 

Income and asset assessment is not required. Students are required to pay a non-refundable administrative fee for the application.

The NLSFT loan will be paid direct to student’s institution by 2 installments to settle the tuition fees. Interest shall be charged once the loan is drawn down and throughout the study period until the loan is repaid in full.
 

For new students, the application deadline of the above two schemes will be around mid-late September of the year. Details on the schemes can be obtained from the website of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFO).

These two schemes provide means-tested financial assistance to needy full-time students pursuing locally-accredited, self-financing post-secondary education programmes at the level of associate degree, higher diploma or degree, e.g. for HKUST, final year full-time local undergraduate students of dual degree course are eligible to these schemes.

Financial assistance is provided in the form of grant and/or loan for FASP successful applicants while loan will be provided for NLSPS successful applicants. Details on the schemes can be obtained from the website of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFO).

Students who like to apply for the FASP/ NLSPS Schemes have to apply it through e-submission (https://ess.wfsfaa.gov.hk/).

From 2014/15, a hostel subsidy scheme has been implemented under the Community Care Fund programme. The scheme aims to provide needy undergraduates with subsidy to meet student hostel expenses. Students would automatically be considered for the subsidy if they are successful applicants of TSFS/FASP. The actual amount of subsidy received by each eligible undergraduate is to be determined by the student’s level of assistance assessed in TSFS/FASP.
 

In 2024/25, each eligible student will be offered a hostel subsidy up to $10,420 a year. The subsidy shall be disbursed to students’ bank accounts on semester basis by 2 installments. For details, please visit SFO's website.

This is a scheme enhancing the academic expenses grant for students with special educational needs (SEN) and financial needs which has been implemented under the Community Care Fund programme starting from 2015/16. 
 

Students, who have passed the means-test of TSFS or FASP and confirmed to have one kind of SENs, are eligible to apply. In 2024/25, each eligible student will be offered an additional academic expenses grant of up to $9,850 a year. For details, please visit SFO's website.

To know more about SEN support offered by HKUST, please click into the University's designated website on supporting students with SEN.