Compulsory fees

What is a compulsory fee?

The Compulsory Fee component of the Student Loan can be used to pay all or part of the fees the student must pay to the tertiary education provider for an enrolment in an approved programme. This includes:

tuition fees
examination fees
student levies

It does not include charges such as:

external fees or costs (e.g. teacher registration fees, costs of practising certificates for lawyers)
penalty fees for late enrolment/registration
other administration fees such as instalments charges - that is, special charges which would not normally be incurred by every student enrolling or registering in the same programme
student association fees (from 1 January 2012)

Since 1 January 2012 membership of a student association has been voluntary.

Part-time part-year students

Part-time part-year students must be studying 0.25 EFTS or more to access the compulsory fee component of the Student Loan.

Students studying on a part-time, part-year basis are only entitled to the compulsory fees component, unless they are approved as being Limited Full-Time (LFT), then they are considered to be studying full-time.

Students changing from part-time to full-time

Part-time students, who increase their study (EFTS) to be full-time during the year, may be entitled to all components of a Student Loan.

Beneficiaries

Students receiving a benefit (including New Zealand Superannuation) can borrow the compulsory fee component of the loan, provided they are otherwise eligible.

Students who are granted employment and training related assistance for course fees (e.g. Training Incentive Allowance), can only borrow the Compulsory Fee component for any remaining fees not covered by the employment and training related assistance.

Fees Free tertiary study

The first-year Fees Free policy for new tertiary students applied to first time students starting on or after 1 January 2018. The first-year Fees Free scheme ended on 31 December 2024 and was replaced by final-year Fees Free from 1 January 2025.

Students who used first-year Fees Free in 2024 may have some remaining entitlement to first-year Fees Free in 2025. If a student can use their remaining first-year Fees Free entitlement in 2025, they will not need to access a Student Loan for their compulsory course fees unless their fees exceed their Fees Free entitlement.