Student Allowance
A Student Allowance is a weekly payment to help with your living expenses while you study full-time. You don't have to pay this back.
On this page:
General Student Allowance criteria
Use the What You Can Get eligibility test to find out whether you are eligible for the Student Allowance.
In general, to get the Student Allowance you need to:
- be 18 or over (some 16-17 year olds can also get it)
- study full-time (or limited full-time with our approval)
- be at secondary school or on a tertiary course approved by the Tertiary Education Commission
- be a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident (held a Residence Permit and entitled to reside indefinitely in New Zealand for two years) or be a refugee.
How much you could get
Student Allowance payments are determined by many factors, including:
- your income
- your parents' income if you are aged under 24
- whether you live in the parental home
- whether you have a partner, and how much they earn
- whether you have children.
The examples in this section give a guide.
The Accommodation Benefit
As part of the Student Allowance, you may be able to get an Accommodation Benefit if you live away from the parental home while you study, or you live in the parental home and pay market rent and/or the outgoings. If you have a partner your combined income must be less than $384.02 (from 1 April 2009) a week before tax.
You can only get the Accommodation Benefit if you qualify for Student Allowance.
How much you can earn
Your income in any one week can be up to $192.01 before tax (from 1 April 2009) before your Student Allowance payments are affected.
For every cent you earn over $192.01 in any week, the amount you get for Student Allowance before tax will reduce by the same amount. For example, if you earn $200 a week before tax, your Student Allowance will reduce by $7.99.
If your income changes you must let us know immediately so we can change your payments.
You need to let us know of any income you get the week this has been earned. If you don't let us know, you could be overpaid and you'll need to pay the money back. We could take legal action to recover this money.
The fastest and easiest way to let us know your income details is using MyStudyLink.
When to apply
To get paid on time, apply as early as you can. If you have not finalised your course, or your parents are unsure of their annual income (especially if self-employed) you can apply now and give us these details when you have them.
Note: you need to provide these details before the end date of your course that you applied for the Student Allowance for.
Apply at least 21 days before your course starts or you may not get paid on time. You can apply for the Student Allowance before you enrol for study but you will need to be fully enrolled before we can pay you. It's better to apply early - if your course details change, you can let us know.
To speed things up make sure you give us all the details we need.
If we receive your application after the end of the first week of your course (or the date you qualify if that's later), you may miss out on some payments. Usually payments cannot be backdated.
When you will find out how much you’ll be paid
Once your Student Allowance is pre-approved, you will get a letter advising of your payment figure.
When your study details have been verified by your education provider, we will confirm the final figure in a letter.
You can also check your MyStudyLink account for progress on your application.
When you will get your first payment
The earliest we can pay you is in the second week of your course. You are paid in arrears, so your payment for one week isn't made until the following week. All payments are made direct to your bank account.
If you apply late, if your enrolment isn't completed or you don't give us the information we need, the start of your payments may be delayed.
Situations where you can't get a Student Allowance
You can't get the Student Allowance if you're:
- in prison
- on a benefit
- doing paid work as part of your course
- have a Student Allowance debt that you are not actively paying back.
However, make sure you talk to us if any of these situations apply to you. There may be other types of financial assistance to help while you study.
Reapplying for a Student Allowance
You need to apply for the Student Allowance each time you enrol for a new period of study. Apply early, well before your course starts, even if you're still deciding what you're going to study.
You need to pass more than half of the work of a full-time tertiary course to get a Student Allowance again.
Studying overseas
To get the Student Allowance for study overseas your study programme must be approved by the Tertiary Education Commission, or the Ministry of Education. You will need to complete an Overseas Study application in addition to an application for Student Allowance.
As a tertiary student, you need to be:
- enrolled with at a tertiary education provider in New Zealand
- studying a programme that's approved by the Tertiary Education Commission.
As a secondary student, you must:
- be studying through a recognised exchange organisation, and
- have attended a New Zealand secondary school prior to commencing the exchange programme. (Or within a reasonable timeframe, as determined by StudyLink, if a delay in commencement is due to a different secondary school year in the host country.)
The overseas study providers that have approved recognised exchange programmes are:
- Rotary
- American Field Scholar (AFS)
- Student Travel School (STS)
- American Swedish Student Exchange (ASSE)
- Youth for Understanding.
The amount you can get overseas is the same as if you're studying in New Zealand.
When you apply online for study support, you will get an Overseas Study application form to complete if you qualify.
Download the Overseas Study application form:
