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Home / Returning to study / Passing requirements: are you eligible for a Student Loan / Don't meet passing requirements

Return to study

  • Continue from last semester
  • Took a study break
  • Postgraduate study
  • Returning application

Don't meet passing requirements

If you don’t meet passing requirements and don't have a good reason, you can't get a Student Loan until you meet them again.

To meet passing requirements, you must have passed at least half of all the study you've done in the last 5 years.

If you haven't done this, and you don't have a good reason, you may be able to regain access to the Student Loan. You need to either:

  • stop studying and wait until enough time has gone by to meet the passing requirements, or
  • keep studying until you meet the passing requirements. Your study needs to be:
    • at a tertiary education provider
    • on a course that's approved for Student Loan
    • completed without getting a Student Loan.

Passing requirements are assessed over a 5 year rolling cycle. This means that if you apply for a Student Loan and have to meet passing requirements, we'll check the results of your study up to the last 5 years (depending on how many years you've studied).

So, in the last 5 years, if you've studied for:

  • less than 5 years, we'll only check the results for the number of years you've studied
  • the full 5 years, we'll check the results for all of these.

If you've studied for the full 5 years

We'll check the results for the last 5 years that you've studied. When you enrol the following year, the first year of the original assessment is no longer included.

Study year Student Loan received EFTS studied Years assessed Total EFTS to check
2009 Yes 0.8 None - assessment only starts once 1.6 EFTS have been studied 0
2011 Yes 1.0 None - assessment only starts once 1.6 EFTS have been studied 0
2012 Yes 1.0 2009-2011 1.8
2013 Yes 0.8 2009-2012 2.8
2014 Yes 0.8 2009-2013 3.6
2015 Yes 1.0 2011-2014 3.6
2016 Yes 0.8 2011-2015 4.6
2017 Yes 0.8 2012-2016 4.4
2018 Yes 0.8 2013-2017 4.2
2019 Yes 1.0 2014-2018 4.2

If you haven't met passing requirements because of a reason beyond your control, you may still be able to get a Student Loan. We may not count any EFTS you studied where either:

  • you've had something significant happen in your life which means you failed your course, eg you had a serious:
    • illness that put you out of action for some time (eg, glandular fever)
    • accident and ended up in hospital for a while
  • you have other special circumstances, eg you've been in a Civil Defence emergency, like a flood or earthquake
  • you withdrew from either:
    • any course in the last 5 years and got a full fee refund
    • part of a course (eg, a paper or a semester) in the last 5 years.

If you’re not sure, email us or call us to tell us about your situation.

What you need to do

  1. Apply online for a Student Loan (if you haven’t already).
  2. Get evidence of your reason (eg, a medical certificate). This needs to show how your study was affected and how long this lasted.
  3. Get evidence that you can now return to study (eg, a medical certificate confirming you are fit to return to study).
  4. Log in to Connect and upload your documents.

linksRelated

Upload your documents in Connect

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