MOE Huayu Enrichment Scholarship 2012-2013

[taiwantiger]

so I hope I get my acceptance for the scholarship soon too

for the visa: you can not switch visa types inside Taiwan.
which means get a student visa before you get to Taiwan! if you do 3 month semesters at mtc your visa will just last 3 months. and you can (actually have to) extend each semester you stay longer and study. (that's how i did it)

or maybe you can pay for all the semesters you want to study at your university, get an acceptance letter for the whole duration and then apply for a student visa.

[erivera3]

So what type of airline ticket did you purchase? One way or round trip ticket with a departure of one year later?

[tmjmt]

I don't know why I thought that, I can't even find where I thought I read it anymore. I thought there was something you could do as long as you weren't using the visa exception.

Anyhow, so the easiest/best scenario is to just get as long as a student visa as you can from your admissions letter and then extend it as many time as you can? Is it worth looking into or is it possible to get a resident visa if you a planning on studying for longer than 6 months? The consulate websites say that a resident visa is for any foreign national trying to work/study or something for 6+ months, but I don't know how hard that is to get.

Okay I just asked my friend who happened to just pop up near me, she previous did MTC under the Hanyu for 6 months and said she just had a 3 month visa then 'had' to apply/switch to a resident.

[ChineseQuest]

The rules depend on which country your passport is from. I'm American, and came here on a 3-month HES scholarship last fall. They gave me a "visitor visa for purposes of studying" (note: there is no "student visa"). For Americans, it's a 60 day visa, renewable twice (total of 6 months). This means that every 60 days you go to the immigration agency and renew it. DO NOT forget to do this. I was late by one day and miraculously had no consequences, but I've never heard of anyone else being so lucky. Most people I believe have to pay a fine and do an expensive visa run, and I've even heard of people being deported. Anyway, MTC has all the paperwork you need for that in the 6th floor office. After you've been in class (not in the country, but actually attending class) for 4 months (I think), you can apply for a resident visa. A resident visa is good for 15 days, by which time you need to apply for an ARC (alien resident card). This is an involved process (including a medical exam), so get started on it early so you don't overstay your 6 months. This is all done within Taiwan, so it isn't true that you can't change your visa in country.

Of course, don't take my word on all this. MTC (and any other school, I'm sure) should have all the info you need, and should be more authoritative.

[Lili]

Congrats to those who have recieved scholarships!
Wow! 12 months from Texas?! Youd be lucky to get 6 months in NYC.

Anyone from NYC hear back?

[erivera3]

The issue is that I will be on a 1 year HES but the school admittance says 3 months. The issue is that for the visitor visa I need a return flight scheduled but the reality is that I am going to stay the full year which requires a health screening so this makes me feel that I should only purchase a one way ticket. I have found this http://www.clc.fcu.edu.tw/new/images/visachart.jpg . Still not sure what to do I am going to contact the Bureau of Consular affairs in regards to this.

[ChineseQuest]

The 3 months on the admission letter is just to specify which semester you can begin studying. If you want to continue studying, you just go to the office at the end of the term and pay tuition for the next term.

I had to buy a plane ticket out of Taiwan, but you may not, I don't know all the details of how that works. I bought one to Hong Kong, and then cancelled it and got a refund. If you have to get a plane ticket, I recommend buying it as a separate trip though, rather than as a "connecting" flight (albeit with a few months' layover). I did the latter and getting a refund was a 3-month long nightmare.

[Disorted]

Looking over the past years, it seems like Texas always hears back first - congrats to those of you who won!

On that note, I've been lurking for the past few months and finally made an account. I'm waiting to hear back from Washington DC. It''s nerve-wracking! Has anyone heard from there?

[turkmenitron]

Hi everyone,

I just received word that I got a Huayu Scholarship for 9 months at NCCU in Taipei. My question is, is this scholarship actually worth it?

I'm concerned about the amount of money the scholarship gives you, whether it's enough and whether it's possible to find something like part-time English tutoring or teaching to supplement the scholarship amount. I have my own savings but I am still kind of worried. I don't want to be in a bad position financially by the end of my time in Taiwan if I take this scholarship.

I was really excited about this scholarship when I first got word that I got it but now I am really not so sure.

The breakdown over three months:
27,500 for tuition
7000/m for renting an apartment off campus
500/m cellphone
1000 books
1500 insurance

All told that leaves about 7500 NTD per month, which isn't very much. Add student loan payments in there (I already graduated) and this scholarship just makes less and less financial sense, even though studying Chinese is something I really want to be doing. Even if I could supplement this by adding about 10 hours of tutoring/teaching a week at assuming 600 NTD an hour, that would be enough to justify it for me. I speak Chinese already and have two years of teaching experience, but people keep saying the job market in Taipei is so bad that it may not be possible to even get that.

So I guess here are my questions:

1. Is it possible to get (at a minimum) 10 hours of tutoring or teaching English a week in Taipei? I have 2 years experience teaching ESL and have a bachelors.
2. Is the Huayu Scholarship worth it?
3. I can't think of any others, sorry. I'm just worried about this and need some advice.

[tmjmt]

I approached it basically as I was wanting to study full time with minimal expense, and obviously the scholarship greatly aids that goal, anytime you can be a full-time student with little to no accrued debt I think it's a good deal (obviously as long as the area of study is appropriate for you and your goals as well). If other factors like making more money or needing to pay off significant debts are more crucial at this time you just have to consider if being a full-time student is the best idea right now.

Also, technically the scholarship can't go towards tuition. It seems the way they distribute it is in such a way also so that you have already paid for the tuition for the term prior to receiving the corresponding scholarship funds. Obviously this is only a short-term hiccup as when budgeting and planning for the year it all works out the same in the net scheme financially.

I say consider the years tuition outside of the scholarship anyways if possible with existing savings or by saving up, and then apply and classify the scholarship funds purely as living expenses. You can view the tuition as a lump sum investment towards a year of progress in Chinese, and the scholarship as basically an award allowing you to commit time to schooling rather than working. With minor side tutoring you could be looking at ~1000USD to live off of and/or minor debt repayment.

Edit: I live in a pretty expensive city in China currently and live quite unfrugally off of around 600-700 a month, so to me this is really just seen as a switch from working to schooling, saving to enriching.