I opened a letter from CPF yesterday and what a joke it was. My study loan, using my dad's CPF account, is due for repayment. CPF's advice is for me to pay $300+ a month. The loan plus accrued interest amounts to about $19k ++. A quick mental calculation will tell you that by paying $300+ a mth, a person will be able to clear the full loan in 67+ months. Thats like 5.5 years. And for a guy, he will be almost 32 years old by the time he clears the CPF loan. And I'm not sure if there will be additional interest during the 5 years of mthly repayment.

Madness right. I really admire those people who have repaid their study loan. People like me will just buy more 4D and Toto and hope to be able to clear the loan in one lump sum payment. Ha.

Which leads me to confirm that my thinking, back when I was finishing my NS, was right. Whats the point of seeking higher education?

For a graduate with a starting pay of 3k, an annual increment of 5%, he will have earned a total of almost $200k in 5 years.

For a non-graduate with a starting pay of 1.5k, same annual increment of 5%, he will have earned a total of almost $200k in 9 years.

Its the same!

In case you dont understand why one is 5 years and one is 9 years, its cos of the 4 years university education. All the above do not factor in bonuses.

My point is that when both of them turn 32, the one without education would've earned much more. Yes, you can tell me that the graduate's pay will have exponential growth after the 5 years and all.. but if the non-grad job hops, his pay will increase exponentially. All the more so with his 9 years of experience.

So why do we study? I really dunno. Are graduates really better in their work than the non-grads? Look around your office and figure.