Education may be the last thing parents will deny their children during bad times, but even tutors and tuition agencies are now reeling from an economic recession.
A spokesman for KnowledgeHouse Tuition Agency said fewer parents had been seeking tuition for their children compared to last year.
'It's about 10 to 20 per cent slower. Parents also seem to be more concerned about rates and will come to us with a budget, or they choose to have tuition at the teacher's house, so that the transport costs are not factored into the fees,' she said.
She added that parents were ready to pay a premium tutor above $25 an hour earlier, but they are now willing to pay only $20.
Tuition teacher Laura Oh, 27, has noticed that a small number of parents are opting for cheaper group lessons for their children rather than one-on-one tuition.
Mrs Wijaykumar Devi, 54, who teaches Additional Mathematics at Clear Minds Education Centre, said 75 per cent of her students stopped taking their tuition classes during their December break, which was much more than last year.
'Parents decided not to spend during the holidays and just take a break,' she said.
Some parents have also opted to cut down on the number of subjects their children are taking and focus only on their children's weakest subject, she said.
While tutors said they saw a fall in takings during the December holiday period, they expect things to pick up now that school has started.
Housewife Safurah Taib, 38, used to pay $120 each for two of her children, aged 15 and 13, to have maths tuition at a neighbour's place.
In the middle of last year, she had to pull them out because household expenses had to go towards meeting rising prices. Since the recession, her technician husband had also been unable to work overtime.
'I cannot afford to continue giving them tuition, so I told them to be independent and study themselves,' she said, adding that she was now tutoring her youngest child, an eight- year-old, herself.
'I feel bad, but I have no choice.'
Meanwhile, both tuition teachers and self-help groups are gearing up for a higher demand for cheaper tuition fees and subsidised classes.
A spokesman for Malay self-help group Mendaki said it had seen more parents seeking help for fee waivers for its tuition programmes.
It received 1,412 such applications in 2007 for tution last year. It has already received 1,181 applications for this year and is expecting the number to increase.
It has also raised its income criteria for the tuition fee waiver to enable more families to qualify.
Now, families whose net household income does not exceed $1,500 and have a per capita income of $375 per month are eligible.
Previously, it was capped at a gross household income of $1,000 and a per capita income of $300 per month.
For this year, the Chinese Development Assistance Council has also decided to extend its fee waiver scheme to tuition students from families whose gross monthly household income do not exceed $1,200 and has a per capita income not exceeding $300.
This is up from a household income of $1,000 previously.
The City Harvest Church, which provides low-cost subsidised tuition classes to the public, saw a 10 per cent increase in the number of parents asking for tuition support last year compared to the previous year.
A spokesman for the church said it would continue to develop its existing programmes with the recession in mind.
Tuition teacher Mrs Wijaykumar is also doing her part to help needy parents - by offering to teach one out of three subjects taken for free.
She said: 'Now, with the recession, I'm preparing for more of such requests.'
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