THE Government will continue to help Singaporeans cope with rising education costs, but it is inevitable that some fees, like university tuition, will go up from time to time, said Minister of State (Education) Lui Tuck Yew on Tuesday.

The reason: local universities, in providing quality education, face growing price tags, Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui said during the debate on the Education Ministry's (MOE) budget.

For instance, rising manpower costs, which form about 70 per cent of their expenditure.

'Our universities must pay competitive wages if they are to compete effectively against global competition to attract and retain top-quality faculty,' said RADM Lui.

He was responding to three MPs who expressed concern about the affordability of university education, following the fee hike announced last month by the three local universities.

Tuition fees would go up by between 4 per cent and 20 per cent for first-year undergraduates entering the varsities in August.

They will pay the new fees throughout their degree course and not be subjected to any further increase. With the fee rise, most students will pay $250 more a year.

But some, such as law and business students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University, will bear increases of up to $1,200.

Nominated MP Sylvia Lim asked whether the 20 per cent hike breached previous guideline made in 2005 that universities would cap increases at 10 per cent of the previous year's fees.

This guideline was in a report released by a high-level government committee in January 2005. Responding, RADM Lui stressed that the Government had worked closely with the universities to ensure that new fees were 'set reasonably'.

The institutions were 'cost conscious and fiscally prudent' and able to account for their budget and expenditure, among other things, he added.

On the Government's part, he said it has raised the amount of financial aid for students.

In the financial year ending May 2007, about $120 million, mostly loans, was doled out to students. In 2003, it was $81 million.