UNDERGRADUATE tuition fees at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) are going up.

Incoming students in the new academic year will have to pay an annual fee of $6,360 up about 4 percentage points from $6,100 last year, NTU said in a press release on Wednesday.

There will also be greater differentiation in tuition fees between Singapore citizens, permanent residents (PRs) and foreign students.

Foreign students on a tuition grant bond will pay 50 per cent more, or $9,540, while PRs on a tuition grant bond will pay 10 per cent more, or $7,000. Foreign students and PRs not on a tuition grant bond will pay $23,320.

NTU said the increase was due to higher 'manpower and operating costs'.

The new fees will be maintained at the same level during the course of the students' study. This is part of NTU's cohort-based approach to setting undergraduate tuition fees where the fees are set at the start of the students' course of study and maintained at the same level throughout the course of their study.

NTU said that this is to facilitate 'better financial planning for students by setting out a predictable fee schedule for the duration of their education at NTU'.

Current students and returning National Servicemen will not be affected by the increase and will continue to pay tuition fees based on the year they were offered a place at the University.

The last time the university raised its fees was in 2006 when tuition fees went up by three per cent.

Needy students can take up assistance schemes such as bursaries, loans and work-study schemes, NTU said.