Background

Between 1992 and 1999 the following organisations were responsible for different aspects of the Student Loan Scheme:

• the Ministry of Education -
  • the government's lead advisor on education policy (including Student Loans)
  • the delivery and administration of the scheme and
  • the approval of tertiary education providers and qualifications or programmes for access to Student Loans (and Student Allowances)
• tertiary education providers (other than private training establishments) - assessment of Student Loan applications from their students (under contract to the Ministry of Education)
• Eduserve (Christchurch Polytechnic) - from 1995 the assessment of Student Loan applications from students attending private training establishments (under an agreement with the Ministry of Education)
• the Student Loan Accounts Manager (EDS (NZ) Ltd) - the processing of all Student Loan applications from tertiary providers and Eduserve, including all payments and the management of all loan accounts
• New Zealand Vice-Chancellors Committee - the quality assurance of New Zealand University qualifications or programmes
• New Zealand Qualifications Authority - the quality assurance of all non-University qualifications or programmes
• the Treasury - the government's lead advisor on economic, financial and regulatory policy, including the value and sustainability of the Student Loan Scheme
• Inland Revenue - managed and recovered student loan debt under the Student Loan Scheme Act 1992

Any queries in relation to Student Loans from the beginning of 1992 to the end of 1999 are not the responsibility of MSD. MSD does not hold any Student Loans information in relation to those years.

Any Student Loan queries for those years should be referred to Inland Revenue as they hold the records created by the Student Loan Accounts Manager, as well as their own records for those Student Loans.

In December 1997, the government decided that MSD would take over responsibility for the delivery of the "front end" of the Student Loan Scheme from 1 January 2000. This decision recognised the benefits that would flow from an integrated approach to the delivery of financial support to students.

Since 1 January 2000, the following organisations have been responsible for different aspects of the Student Loan Scheme:

• MSD (via StudyLink) - the assessment and payment of Student Loans to eligible students
• the Ministry of Education - the government's lead advisor on education policy (including Student Loans)
• tertiary education providers - the supply of enrolment information to MSD (via StudyLink)
• Inland Revenue - the management and recovery of Student Loan debt under the Student Loan Scheme Act 2011
• the Tertiary Education Commission - since its creation in 2002, the approval of tertiary education providers and qualifications or programmes for access to Student Loans (and Student Allowances)
• New Zealand Vice-Chancellors Committee - the quality assurance of New Zealand University qualifications or programmes
• New Zealand Qualifications Authority - the quality assurance of non-University qualifications or programmes on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework
• the Treasury - the government's lead advisor on economic, financial and regulatory policy, including the value and sustainability of the Student Loan Scheme
• Statistics New Zealand - the management of the Integrated Data Infrastructure, including Student Loan (and Student Allowances) data supplied by MSD