Student Loan

A Student Loan helps to pay for your course fees, study materials (e.g. books or a computer) and weekly living costs.

You will have to pay back any amount you borrow.

Fees Free study

If you start study in 2024, you may be able to get Fees Free to pay for your first year. If you can get Fees Free for your first year, you may not need a Student Loan to pay for your course fees. However, you’ll still need to apply for a Student Loan if you want course-related costs or living costs.

From 2025, Fees Free will be available for your final year of study instead (if you meet the criteria). You’ll need to pay for your course fees before you start your final year. The Fees Free scheme will then return the fees when you complete your qualification.

If you need help to pay your course fees, you may be able to get a Student Loan.

Fees Free is run by the Tertiary Education Commission. Check out the website for more information.

Who can get it

To get a Student Loan, you must meet certain criteria around residency and your course. If you've had a Student Loan before, there are also extra criteria you must meet.

If you're under 18, one of your parents also needs to give their permission for you to get a loan.

Residency criteria

You need to meet the residency requirements. For most people, this means you need to be either:

• a New Zealand citizen, or
• ordinarily resident in New Zealand and have:
  • lived in New Zealand for at least 3 years and
  • held a residence class visa for at least 3 years.

  If you don't meet this criteria, there are other residency criteria you may meet.

  Your course

  You must be studying an approved course run by an approved education provider (but you could be based overseas).

  Your course must also have no more than 2 EFTS a year (this is around 240 points or credits).

  If you've had a Student Loan before

  If you've had a Student Loan before, you must also:

  • meet the passing requirements
  • not have exceeded the number of loans you can get.

  Who can't get it

  You can’t get a Student Loan if you’re:

  • at secondary school
  • bankrupt
  • behind on your Student Loan repayments by $500 or more and overdue on repaying any of this amount by a year or more
  • studying for less than 32 weeks and your course has less than 0.25 EFTS.

  If you're under 18, you can't get a Student Loan if you're either:

  • on a Youth Guarantee programme
  • studying a fees-free level 1 or 2 qualification.

  What you can get

  If you're studying full-time, you can get a Student Loan for:

  • compulsory course fees
  • course-related costs (up to $1,000 for things like books, stationery or a computer)
  • living costs (up to $316.39 a week).

  If you're in prison or on a benefit, you cannot get the living costs.

  If you're 55 or older, you can only get a Student Loan for compulsory course fees.

  If you're studying part-time, you will be limited in what you can get unless you can be classed as a full-time student.

  Youth Guarantee Programme or Fees Free Level 1 and 2 qualification

  You can only get a Student Loan for course-related costs and living costs if you're over 18 and studying either a:

  • Youth Guarantee programme, or
  • Fees Free Level 1 or 2 qualification.

  You'll be charged an establishment fee

  You'll be charged a one-off establishment fee of $60. This will be added to your Student Loan balance as soon as any payments are made.

  We won't pay for:

  • your lump sum hostel or hall of residence costs
  • special charges, eg, penalty fees for late enrolment
  • administration charges for paying by instalments
  • optional service fees, eg, student association fees.

  When to apply

  Important information

  Apply as early as you can to help get your correct payments on time. Even if you haven't finalised where or what you're studying.

  You can apply at any time before or during your course. If you apply after your course starts, we can only pay you from the date you submit your application.

  We must receive all the documents we need before your course finishes.

  How to apply

  You apply online. If you're studying for more than 1 year, you need to reapply for a Student Loan each year that you study.

  When you apply, depending on your circumstances, you can apply for:

  • compulsory course fees
  • course-related costs
  • living costs.

  To get your course-related costs you need to claim them in MyStudyLink once we’ve received your Student Loan contract.

  Applying for the first time

  If you’re applying for the first time, there are a number of steps you must take.

  Had a Student Loan in the last 12 months

  If you’ve had a Student Loan in the last 12 months, you can apply in your MyStudyLink account.

  Had a Student Loan more than 12 months ago

  If you’ve had a Student Loan more than 12 months ago, you'll need to follow a different process.

  What happens next

  You'll get a Student Loan contract which you'll need to return to us with any documents we ask for.

  Once we've got everything we need from you, we'll confirm your enrolment details with your education provider. You need to be fully enrolled before we can do this.

  Manage your application

  You can check how your application's going, or look at your payment information, online in MyStudyLink.

  Payments

  When you get your payments depends on:

  • when you apply
  • when your course starts
  • when you claim your course-related costs or request your living costs.

  Paying back your loan

  Your Student Loan gets transferred to Inland Revenue once:

  • your Student Loan application is approved, and
  • payments are made to you and/or your education provider.

  Any loan repayments will go to Inland Revenue. They have rules around when you have to start paying it back to them.