How many loans you can get

There is a limit to how many Student Loans you can get in your lifetime.

Usually, you can only get enough Student Loans to pay for up to 7 EFTS of study. This includes all loans you got since 2010.

What are EFTS?

7 EFTS is:

  • around 840 points/credits, or
  • about 7 or 8 years of full-time study.

If you haven't studied 7 EFTS yet and you want to do another course or paper that will take you over the 7 EFTS limit, you may be able to get another Student Loan for this course or paper.

Example

You've studied 6.5 EFTS and have enrolled for another course which is 1 EFT. Although this takes you over the 7 EFTS limit to 7.5 EFTS, you may be able to get another Student Loan for this course.

  • Getting more loans once you've studied 7 EFTS

    You may be able to get a one-off extension of your Student Loan for up to an extra 1 EFTS of study if you're either:

    • a graduate-entry student who's studying one of these long undergraduate qualifications:
      • Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Auckland
      • Bachelor of Optomoetry at the University of Auckland
      • Bachelor of Veterinary Science at Massey University
      • Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Otago
      • Bachelor of Dental Surgery at the University of Otago
    • completing post graduate study (eg, Masters, Bachelor of Honours).

    If you’re doing doctoral study, you can get more Student Loans for up to 3 EFTS of study. However the 3 EFTS will be reduced by the number of extra EFTS you’ve already used for post graduate study or a long undergraduate qualification.

    What you need to do

    1. Apply online for a Student Loan (if you haven't already).
    2. Fill out a Student Loan EFTS extension application form
    3. Log in to Connect and upload your form.
    linksStudent Loan EFTS extension application form (PDF 707.6KB)

  • Withdrew from study

    If you completely withdrew from a course and there was a full fee refund from your education provider, we won’t the count the EFTS for that course as part of the 7 EFTS.

  • Don't know how many EFTS you've used

    You can check how many EFTS you've used online, in MyStudyLink.

    Find out about MyStudyLink