Eligibility and Entitlement

To be eligible for a Student Allowance a student must make an application and meet the following eligibility criteria:

• be aged 18 (some exceptions apply for 16 and 17 year old's) and less than 65 years of age at study start date and
• be a New Zealand citizen or be ordinarily resident and entitled to reside indefinitely in New Zealand or meet a specific residency requirement and
• be studying a recognised programme either full-time or (with our approval) limited full-time at an approved tertiary provider or secondary school and
• not be getting a benefit, New Zealand Superannuation, Veterans Pension or a youth payment and
• not be getting similar government study assistance without MSD approval

If a student meets these eligibility requirements they are also assessed to establish their entitlement to an allowance.

To be entitled to a Student Allowance, a student must meet the following entitlement criteria:

• a parental income assessment (if under 24) and
• a personal income assessment or
• a combined income assessment (if in a recognised relationship)

For a tertiary student to continue to be entitled to a Student Allowance they must:

• pass more than half the work of a full-time or approved limited full-time course, meet course requirements, (some exceptions apply) and
• not exceed the maximum of 120 weeks of entitlement for tertiary education if aged 40 or over at study start date (some exceptions apply) or
• not exceed the maximum of 200 weeks of entitlement for tertiary education if under the age of 40 at study start date (some exceptions apply) and
• not be undertaking paid practical work, which is recognised as fulfilling part of the requirements of their programme and
• meet particular criteria, if completing a period of study overseas at a campus or delivery site of a New Zealand tertiary provider, meet particular criteria and
• be a New Zealand residence class visa holder, be studying in a country they are not familiar with, and enrolled as an intramural (face to face study) student, if completing a period of study overseas

For a secondary school student to continue to be entitled to an allowance they must:

• not exceed the maximum of 92 weeks entitlement for secondary school education (some exceptions apply)

A student is only entitled to payments between the start and finish date of their study. Their education provider advises these dates as part of the Verification of Study (VoS) process.

A student must be enrolled and be accepted onto a course of study for their education provider to confirm their study start and end dates.

A student's study start and end dates may subsequently change if their enrolment changes or the delivery of one or more of the papers or courses they are undertaking changes.

If a full-time (or approved limited full-time) student has earned sufficient income to reduce their allowance entitlement to nil, or a student chooses not to get a Student Allowance, or the student has exhausted their weeks of entitlement, the student is still considered to be eligible (because they have met the eligibility criteria). The student is however not entitled to an allowance.

From 1 January 2011, no student is entitled to get a Student Allowance, while that student or student's partner is getting either New Zealand Superannuation (under the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001) or a Veteran's Pension (under the Veterans' Support Act 2014).