Student Loan
The Student Loan can help to finance your study. It's made up of three parts - compulsory fees, course-related costs and living costs. You have to pay a Student Loan back.
On this page:
General Student Loan criteria
To get a Student Loan, you'll need to:
- be a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident or refugee
- sign a contract with the government
- be enrolled on a Tertiary Education Commission approved course. The course must be full-time (or limited full-time with our approval) or part-time and 32 weeks or longer.
If you are studying part-time
If you are studying part-time, part-year (less than 32 weeks) and your course has an EFTS value of 0.25 or more, you can only get the compulsory fees part of the Student Loan.
To get the living costs part of the Student Loan, your course must be full-time or limited full-time.
How long you can get a Student Loan for
You need to take out a new loan each time you start a new course.
Remember: you will need to pay back each loan you take out. So only borrow what you need.
Situations where you can't get all parts of the Student Loan
If you're in prison
You can apply for a Student Loan for compulsory fees and course-related costs (and living costs if you're on home detention). Talk to your prison education officer or contact us.
If you get the Training Incentive Allowance
If you get the Training Incentive Allowance, the amount you can get for compulsory fees and course-related costs goes down by the amount of Training Incentive Allowance you get (not including any Training Incentive Allowance you get for childcare, transport or disability-related costs). Your Work and Income Case Manager can tell you more.
Situations where you may not be able to borrow the full amount for your compulsory fees
There may be courses where we can only loan a portion of the fees rather than the full amount charged by your education provider. Please check with your education provider if this is the case as you will need to pay the remaining fees yourself.
If you are currently bankrupt or on a course already paid by the government
If you are currently bankrupt or on a course already paid for by the government (such as STAR, TOPS or the Youth Guarantee Programme) you won't be able to get a Student Loan.
If you're on a benefit
If you get the Domestic Purposes, Widows or Invalids Benefit, or Emergency Maintenance Allowance from Work and Income, you can only get a Student Loan for compulsory fees and course-related costs. You can't get a loan for living costs.
If you get any kind of benefit, make sure you talk to your Case Manager first if you are thinking of study.
If you study overseas
To get a Student Loan when you're studying overseas your study programme must be approved by the Tertiary Education Commission.
Tertiary students must be enrolled at a tertiary education provider in New Zealand.
Secondary students must be studying through a recognised exchange organisation and must have attended a New Zealand secondary school prior* to commencing the exchange programme.
The amount you can get overseas is the same as if you're studying in New Zealand.
*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.
If you plan to study overseas, you will need to complete an Overseas Study application and you need to complete a Student Loan application.
When you apply online you will get an Overseas Study application form if you need one.
