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MEXT Scholarship--monthly stipend has been reduced

Charles Barkley

TNT Basketball Analyst
14 Jun 2007
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Sorry to break the bad news, but here is what's happening according to a flyer posted outside my school office:

"Amidst increasingly severe financial conditions, the Ministry of Finance and various other related quarters have requested reconsideration of the amounts of the stipends for Japanese Government SChoalrship Students. Therefore, to promote "300,000 International Students Plan", in consideration of the actual living expenses of international students and regional differences in the cost of living, the amounts of monthly stipends, regardless of the year of selection, will be changed as follows after April 2009:

Undergrade, College of Tech, Special Training, Japanese Language Students: 125,000 per month

Research Students: 152,000 per month
Masters Course: 154,000
Doctoral Course: 155,000





It also said something about an possibly adding 2000 to 3000 yen for students in certain regions, so perhaps this will apply to Tokyo, but I am not holding my breath.

Damn.
 
Oh man, I'm a bit sad mainly because this puts more emphasis on the recession. Oh well, "beggars can't be choosers." I honestly thought the stipend was overly generous, but of course, I wasn't complaining about it haha. I still think 152,000yen a month is plenty, so no worries.
 
this is indeed bad news, but agree with menrui, we can't complain =)
guess we just need to cut back on our spending
 
i don't see it as quite much of a bad news. i mean we all know that japan is badly hit by the recession. and i am glad that they choose this option rather than lowering the number of scholarship recipients. being able to study under a scholarship especially during times like this is already a very good offer. i guess we can all just stick together to help each other on spending economically. anyway, thanks charles for the news. at least we are more prepared.
 
Yeah, it's also good news for this year's applicants. The number of allocated places may still remain.
 
> Charles,
Thanks for inform us this news.
> All,
I'm a little sad when hear this news. However, it will create more chance for others people apply in following years.
The amount of money is enough or not enough is depend on the way we use it. I think it will be a little difficult for the people planning to take the family going to Japan together. But I'm a single so I'll be fine.
As Charles mentioned about "300.000 International students plan", I think this is the main reason for the cutting, not the economic recession. Honestly, while many goverments in all over the world (of course including Japan) pay billions dollar for rescue economics, many companies recieved money from their gorverment, I don't think that we have to cut budget for education to save other fields. Comparing with invest in high risk properties like house loan back securities, I think invest in education is more secure even it may not have high profit immediately.
I always admire Singapore goverment's policy to give loans for all students attending their National Universities. Singapore gives priority for education and that made their wealthy now.
 
Hmmm... I think everyone receiving the scholarship this year should be totally enraged, and go back and reject the scholarship out of principle!

:)
 
hey Nall, don't take it personally ya.
I'm kinda desperate here, still no news at all at the moment.
I'll settle in for ANYTHING now. Even if they cut 50000yen off. (but it's better they don't la.....) =p touchwood touchwood.
Good luck to the new applicants. Lower quantum but higher allocation sounds good.
Hope the budget cut causes somebody from your state to give up and vacate the place for you ya!
 
I don't know what I should be more disappointed about, the fact that I'll be getting 16k less a month or the fact that I found out about it here and not from my school/monbusho!

This sucks even worse than JASSO ditching the medical coverage, but I have to agree that its better than nothing (and its better than reducing the number of scholarships available).
 
Hello Everyone, I am a Mext scholar waiting for the final result , will hopefully be allocated in Tokyo , going there alone ...


I don't know what I should be more disappointed about, the fact that I'll be getting 16k less a month or the fact that I found out about it here and not from my school/monbusho!
I learnt about it recently from a friend who 's studying there, and hoped he was wrong, but apparently not .. and I do feel the same way.


I am aware that this topic has been discussed before in the other MEXT thread and you told whoever asked to recheck older posts, but Am asking about the new situation that is :
If you had to get by with that , which part ,do you think, of your daily spending would you cut back on expenses ? Personally , I guess I' ll def let go of the idea of continuing my Iaido training (not that I think it was affordable anyway) and prob go out less , that is of course if I still end up there ....
 
Yeah, it's kind of rough cause the expectation of getting that money at least for the first 12 months was there. But in the end, it is not really that big of a difference.... just a few more home cooked meals :p
 
hi all!

I agree the stipend reduction is not a good thing, but still (at least from my position) receiving the scholarship, even with the cut, is the best situation to be during a recession. Friends of mine are already loosing their jobs, and budget cuts on my field (design and advertisement) are among the first to show. I think most of us who get the scholarship will at least have this certain during the worst moment of the crisis, which I think is good, even if it means to cut down on some things.

Still I hope people who are already there and living with the cut like Charles Barkley, can let us know first hand how bad does it really affect their lifestyle, how significantly is the impact and if they see it will mean sacrificing many things.

On a different but somewhat related subject, should this cut be really that big, and I really hope it won't come to this :unsure: , does anyone know how difficult or how can things be arranged should we need financial help from home or access to any savings we might have home, from Japan?
 
which part ,do you think, of your daily spending would you cut back on expenses ?
Well, my life style doesn't really fill out 152,000yen a month, so I really don't know what I would "cut back" on. But if worse comes to worst, I would probably: first, definitely avoid getting a girlfriend haha; try to avoid those gift giving holidays as much as possible; cut back on housing, like getting a roommate( or 2) and splitting the bills; try to use less electricity; cut back on food, go out less.
 
It's not good, but its really not a big deal.... after all the Japanese studies students, Undergrad students were all originally surviving on less...

Even in Tokyo, you're most likely living in a dorm so the rent is still low for the first 1-2 years... after that you may want to consider getting a part time job to supplement your income.
 
absolutely, in 2006 I lived in Tokyo comfortably on 80,000yen with no difficulty, although my room and most of my board were covered by the other part of my scholarship. The reduction in the scholarship amount really should not be a big deal.
 
Got the email today. Fortunately I'll be getting the extra 2,000 regional bump but it still stings!

For all the people thinking of applying, rest assured that so long as you live in the University residence even the reduced stipends are enough to cover your expenses without having to survive on bread or water. If you are young and single you can probably get by quite comfortably in fact (depending on your circumstances of course).
 
I don't know what regions are receiving the additional amount, but I am in Fukuoka so probably you can bet that cities bigger than that (ie the Kanto and Kansai regions) will probably get it!
 
for those interested...you know you could always get a part time job or something
there are hour restrictions on a student visa, and you'll first have to get a workers permit, but all in all you can work up to 20 hours a week on a student visa

for those ppl who are native speakers of english, finding a part time job teaching english or some sort of english lang related job, i'm sure won't be that hard
 
for those interested...you know you could always get a part time job or something
there are hour restrictions on a student visa, and you'll first have to get a workers permit, but all in all you can work up to 20 hours a week on a student visa
for those ppl who are native speakers of english, finding a part time job teaching english or some sort of english lang related job, i'm sure won't be that hard

Yes this is true. I got the work permit and do editing work on English documents. There is work out there (maybe not as much as usual with the economy....but still it exists.)

Ironically I make almost as much doing that per month as the reduction in the stipend!
 
oh here's a question...

does anyone know if it's common or possible for a foreigner to TA a class (other than english if they're a native speaker) that's related to their research/grad study or whatever

like i'm gonna be a bio grad student, i don't mind working part time as an eng teacher/conversationalist or waitressing at a rest...but would it be totally off mark to think that it'd be possible to TA a science class?

oh senseiman,
was it hard to get your worker's permit? you're not working the full 20 hours a week to make just $150 a month are you??
 
What were the previous numbers again? I seems pretty close but yes, that's a bad sign.

I guess it is better to reduce the amount just a tad instead of reducing the number accepted.
 
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