Contents
Student allowance : Contents

Recognised Programmes

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Student Allowance, a student must be enrolled and accepted into an approved course of study which leads to the completion of a recognised programme.

The Tertiary Education Commission is responsible for the approval of recognised programmes for Student Allowance purposes.

Approved programmes may include conjoint or concurrent study.

Students enrolled in full-time study can apply for a Student Allowance if the course is a recognised programme at the following education providers:

Students undertaking a Youth Guarantee course or programme will be eligible for a Student Allowance if the course is either approved as a Recognised Programme, or leads to the completion of a Recognised Programme, and they meet all other eligibility and entitlement criteria.

For more information see:

Removal of programme recognition

From time to time the Tertiary Education Commission reviews education providers funding. As part of that process, the approval of the provider and/or their programmes for Student Allowance purposes are also considered.

When a review results in a provider having their approval for Student Allowances purposes removed (i.e. recognised programme approval is withdrawn), payments of Student Allowances to students undertaking programmes where approval has been withdrawn are to be suspended from the first available date.

Payments are to be reinstated if the approval is reinstated before the end of the same academic year, or earlier at the discretion of StudyLink.

In practice this means a decision would need to be made for each programme of study, when and if reinstatement of suspended Student Allowances payments would occur. A decision would be made by StudyLink in conjunction with TEC and other relevant agencies and advised to staff.

In addition, StudyLink has the discretion to not suspend Student Allowance payments in any individual case, depending on the circumstances of the student, including the circumstances of the withdrawal of programme approval.

This broad discretion needs to be exercised carefully to ensure consistency of approach. Any cases that arise where you consider this discretion might be exercised should be referred to your manager for consideration alongside other known cases and within the context of the decision by TEC to withdraw programme approval.

For more information see:

Legislation

  • recognised programme (definition) regulation 2 Student Allowances Regulations 1998
  • Suspension of certain allowances due to tertiary provider losing accreditation regulation 34 Student Allowances Regulations 1998
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Discretion is often expressed in law by the use of the word "may" as opposed to the use of "shall" or "must".

Exercising discretion involves the use of reason and judgement to make a decision within a "range" of decisions that are potentially available to the decision maker.

The extent of the discretion available to the decision maker depends on the particular provision.

Discretion involves:

A secondary school for the purposes of Student Allowance eligibility means:

Conjoint study occurs where a student undertakes two qualifications at the same time.

This can include situations where two qualifications are combined under one programme code.

The following examples describe conjoint study programmes:

To determine eligibility for Jobseeker Support Student Hardship, tertiary study, Student Allowance and Student Loan, “academic year” means:

Note this does not need to align with the calendar year.

For example, a 1-year course starts in July and finishes in May the following year. The academic year is July to May.

Concurrent study occurs when a student undertakes study at two education providers that will be credited towards a qualification at one of the education providers.

A programme of study that involves concurrent enrolment must have approval by the Tertiary Education Commission to be treated as a single programme for Student Allowance purposes. This approval verifies that: