Ministry of Labor Converts Tuition Subsidies for Children of Unemployed Workers to Living Allowances

To alleviate the financial burden of schooling for children of unemployed workers, the Ministry of Labor recently amended its regulations, changing the original tuition subsidy to a 'living allowance.' For children attending private universities, each person will receive a subsidy of NT$26,000, and those who are sole breadwinners can receive an additional 20%. The Ministry of Labor originally had a subsidy for tuition of children of unemployed workers, hoping to reduce the tuition burden on the children of unemployed workers, but later, because the government also promoted tuition reduction programs for private college students, unemployed workers could only choose one to receive. Huang Wei-chen, Director of the Department of Labor Welfare and Retirement of the Ministry of Labor, told Central News Agency reporters that considering that programs such as tuition reduction are non-discriminatory, and the Ministry of Labor's subsidy program for children of unemployed workers is a measure aimed at specifically taking care of unemployed workers, the original tuition subsidy has been changed to a living allowance. Huang Wei-chen stated that the application qualifications and amount of the living allowance are the same as the original tuition subsidy. As long as involuntary unemployed workers meet the conditions, and the applicant's children must be enrolled in formal schooling in domestic high schools or colleges, they can apply. Regarding the subsidy amount, children in public colleges receive NT$15,000 per person per semester, children in private colleges receive NT$26,000 per person; public high schools maintain a subsidy of NT$4,000 per person, and private high school children maintain a subsidy of NT$6,000 per person. However, for unemployed workers who are sole breadwinners, including those who are divorced, widowed, whose spouse is disabled or suffers from a major illness that prevents them from working, or whose children have 2 or more children attending college, the subsidy amount will be increased by another 20%. Huang Wei-chen stated that the education of children of unemployed workers, in addition to tuition, also has other necessary living expenses. I hope this living allowance can actually reduce the burden on unemployed workers. The plan will be officially launched on August 1st and can be applied in the new semester.