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, refugee or protected person (under the Immigration Act 2009).
- 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.
From 1 January 2011, permanent residents and Australian citizens will be subject to a two-year stand-down before they can receive a Student Loan. This means that they will need to have lived in New Zealand for at least two years and be ordinarily resident in New Zealand. Permanent residents will also need to have held permanent residence for at least two years to qualify.
Some people will not need to meet the two-year requirement. This includes:
- refugees
- anyone who was sponsored into New Zealand by a family member who holds refugee status
- people with protected person status (under the Immigration Act 2009).
Students who studied in 2010 with a Student Loan and don't yet meet the two year requirement may be able to continue to get a Student Loan until they complete their qualification or for a maximum of two years - whichever occurs first.
To continue receiving a Student Loan the student must be studying towards the same qualification that they have received a Student Loan for in 2010.
Note: The Immigration Act 2009 does not come into effect until 29 November 2010
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.
From 1 January 2011 there will be a life-time limit of 7 Equivalent Full-Time Students (EFTS) for Student Loans.
The life-time limit will include all study that you have had a Student Loan for, from 1 January 2010.
Full-time students generally have study loads of between 0.8 EFTS and 1.2 EFTS for a year. For a full-time student, 7 EFTS is equal to abut 7 or 8 years of study. Part-time students use less EFTS each year.
Once you have used any part of the Student Loan, such as living costs, fees or course-related costs, the EFTS for that loan will count towards the 7 EFTS limit.
You can use more than 7 EFTS in some situations including:
- finishing a paper or course of study even if it takes you over the 7 EFTS limit
- up to an additional 1 EFTS to complete post-graduate study
- up to an additional 3 EFTS if you undertake doctoral study.
Generally, you will not be able to receive more than 10 EFTS of Student Loan entitlement including these extensions.
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.
Reapplying for a Student Loan
You need to apply for a Student Loan 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.
From 1 January 2011, you need to pass at least half of the EFTS of your previous study to get a Student Loan again.
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.
