The Verification of Study (VoS) process
Verification of Study (VoS) is a process that provides StudyLink with the necessary information, from education providers, to enable us to assess a student’s entitlement to Student Allowances and/or Student Loans. The VoS also tells us the amount of fees to pay an education provider if the student has applied for a Student Loan to pay their fees.
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To get your study details we have to send a request to your education provider. We call this a VoS request. We ask for all study details after a certain date, usually around the start date you provide us for your study.
When is a VoS request sent?
We automatically send a request for your study details to your education provider once your Student Allowance is at ‘pre-approved’ status or we have received your signed Student Loan contract. You usually don’t have to do anything at this stage as long as you have provided your education provider with all the information they need to confirm your enrolment.
What does the education provider do?
The education provider sends us back a VoS response. This response tells us the information we have asked for or why they couldn’t supply it.
If your enrolment has not yet been completed at your education provider they will not be able to send us the information we need to pay you until your enrolment is completed with them. Some education providers do not confirm their enrolments until just before the start of your study.
How long do you send VoS requests for?
We usually continue to send requests to your education provider until we have the information we need to pay you.
We will ask for the information 12 times or until it is two weeks after the date you told us your study started, whichever is the later. If we don't get the information we will decline your application. This is because the information we receive from your education provider does not tell us that you are studying. You must be studying to get a Student Loan or Student Allowance.
If this happens and you are planning to study you will need to check your study details with your education provider and then let us know you are still studying.
What happens when a correct VoS response is received?
Once we have received a response which contains all the information we need we update your application with the details. We call this applying the VoS.
Once an confirmed VoS has been applied to your application you will progress to the next stage.
- If you meet all the criteria for Student Allowance your application will become approved.
- If you meet all the criteria for the Student Loan you will be sent a Loan Entitlement Advice telling you what you can borrow.
