Eligibility and entitlement criteria for a Student Loan

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

A student must:

• 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 an approved programme at an approved tertiary provider and
• meet the performance requirement and
• provide details of a New Zealand based contact person and
• not be bankrupt and
• not have an overdue Student Loan repayment obligation with Inland Revenue

For more information about eligibility, see:

• Approved programme
• Applications
• Bankruptcy
• Contact person
• Overdue repayment obligation
• Performance requirement - passing at least half

7 EFTS Lifetime limit students generally have a 7 EFTS lifetime limit of entitlement to a Student Loan (some exceptions apply).

Entitlement to the different components of the Student Loan can depend on the amount of study being undertaken, and the student's age at study start date.

Compulsory Fees generally a student is entitled to claim the compulsory fees they are charged by their provider. There are 2 exceptions, either:

• when they are studying on a part-time, part-year basis they must be studying at least 0.25 EFTS or
• when they are pilot training there is a $35,000 per EFTS limit

Living Costs to be entitled to Living Costs a student must be studying full-time (or approved Limited full-time), and under the age of 55 at study start date and not subject to a period of imprisonment.

Course-Related Costs to be entitled to Course-Related Costs a student must be studying full-time (or approved Limited full-time), and under the age of 55 at study start date.

2 EFTS limit borrowing is limited to a maximum of 2 EFTS per loan account.

Overseas study for study starting on or after 1 January 2017, students studying at an overseas campus or delivery site of a New Zealand provider must meet particular criteria.

Also, for study starting on or after 1 January 2017, students who are New Zealand permanent residents must be studying in a country they are not familiar with, and enrolled as an intramural (face to face study) student.