Performance requirement - passing at least half

Generally, to access a Student Loan, a student will need to have passed at least half the EFTS of their previous study.

This requirement applies to all study commencing on or after 1 January 2011.

Tertiary qualifications have an Equivalent Full-Time Student (EFTS) value assigned to them. Where a qualification is divided into papers or modules, the EFTS are disaggregated. That is, each paper or module is assigned a certain number of the EFTS of the whole qualification.

A student's performance will be assessed when:

• they apply for a Student Loan for study starting on 1 January 2011 or later and
• they have studied at least 1.6 EFTS or more since accessing any part of a Student Loan for courses of study ending in 2009 or later

The EFTS count commences (at the earliest) with the student's first course with an end date in 2009 (or later) and for which the student used one or more parts of the Student Loan (eg living costs, course fees, or course-related costs).

The EFTS for all tertiary study is counted, regardless of whether the student has used a Student Loan for that study or not, unless following the provision applies.

Performance is only assessed over a 5 year rolling cycle; this means after 5 years, the first year of the original 5 year assessment is disregarded. This cycle continues.

This ensures that earlier failure does not continue to adversely affect a student but more recent failure does.

Example

A student whose EFTS count includes a course with an end date of 15 June 2009 will have the EFTS for that course counted for any Student Loan application they make for any course with a start date from 1 January 2011 to 15 June 2014. The EFTS for that course will not be included in the performance assessment for study starting on or after 16 June 2014.

When a student withdraws from study, the course end date is the date the student withdrew from study.

Of all the EFTS that are counted in the previous 5 years, the EFTS passed need to be equal to, or exceed the EFTS failed.

The EFTS value of papers or modules in a course can vary. This means that the number of papers a student passes and fails may not be the same proportion of the course as the number of EFTS that a student has passed or failed.

In the following situations EFTS will not be counted:

• if the student has failed to pass at least half of a course for reasons beyond their control
• if the course end date is more than 5 years before
• if the course has not ended before the new course starts and the student has not withdrawn
• if the student has formally withdrawn from a course and received a full refund of their tuition fees
• if the student has received a partial refund of their tuition fees for 2020 study due to the COVID-19 pandemic

If a student withdraws from a course and receives a full fees refund, the student is considered not to have studied for that course and therefore the enrolment is not included in the performance requirement EFTS count.

An education provider may charge a fee for the withdrawal. The payment of this fee from the fee refund does not prevent the refund from being a full fees refund.

When there were no fees drawn from a student's loan account, there cannot be a 'full fees refund' when that student withdraws from that course of study.

In these situations, the student can have the relevant EFTS for that study excluded if MSD considers they have effectively not undertaken that study based on the new EFTS value received as part of the withdrawal advice from their provider.

This provision applies to both withdrawals from an entire study programme and to part withdrawals, for example, on a paper or semester basis. The EFTS that are excluded are the EFTS which have been refunded.

When a partial fee refund occurs for study in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the EFTS value of the course or papers covered by the partial fee refund is not counted.

The EFTS calculation for the performance requirement is different to the EFTS calculation for the lifetime limit.

For more information see:

• The 7 EFTS lifetime limit

Only the EFTS of completed courses are counted.

For the purposes of the Student Loans performance requirement a course is completed when the end date has passed or the student has withdrawn (whether formally or not) from the course, whichever occurs first.

This means that a student who applies for a Student Loan for a new course will not have the EFTS for their previous course included in the performance assessment for their new course in cases where the new course has a start date earlier than the end (or withdrawal) date of their previous course.

The 'failure for reasons beyond a student's control' exception provides discretion to make an eligibility decision based on policy intent, the wording of the Cabinet decision and the facts of the particular situation.

Generally a student will not be eligible for a Student Loan if they have failed to pass at least half of the EFTS of their study in the previous 5 years.

If a student's failure to pass at least half of the EFTS of a particular course or courses was for reasons beyond their control, they can have the EFTS for those courses excluded.

The student must provide evidence of those reasons, except in cases that are self-evident or where MSD already holds that evidence.

Reasons beyond the student's control may include, but are not limited to:

• medical, social or psychological reasons which affected the student's performance
• course cancellation - where the education provider cancelled or changed the course or withdrew tuition

Financial hardship is not, in itself, an acceptable circumstance.

When an exemption for 'reasons beyond a student's control' is approved, the student must be advised of the consequences of further failure, for the same reasons for future entitlement. In particular, that ongoing failure will more likely than not result in a further application being declined.

Acceptable evidence of reasons beyond the student's control may include:

• a medical certificate specifically stating the effect of the illness on the student's study. When the illness is ongoing, it needs to include confirmation that the student is now capable of successfully undertaking their study
• a statement from a solicitor, minister of religion, social worker, etc, setting out details of family circumstances that have adversely affected the student's study. Where this reason is ongoing, it needs to include confirmation that the student is now capable of successfully undertaking their study.
• a statement by their education provider advising of a change in the course, withdrawal of tuition etc, which was not initiated by the student and which made it impossible for them to complete the course

It is not appropriate to continue to allow a student to access a Student Loan where it is evident that they are persistently failing to pass at least half of their study, even if this is for reasons that are beyond the student's control.

The performance test is designed to ensure only students who succeed in their study can continue to access a Student Loan.

If a student is repeatedly failing to meet the performance requirement, even for reasons beyond their control, further investigation will be required. This investigation may include, but is not limited to, consideration of whether:

• a reduction in study is likely to improve the student's performance. If this means the student reduces their study to less than full-time, limited full-time approval may be appropriate.
• the student is receiving their 'full and correct entitlement'. A student who is not succeeding be under financial pressure due to unanticipated costs associated with their situation. They may also have difficulty in accessing the services they need if there is a cost involved.

In some cases, it may be prudent to suspend access to a Student Loan until a decision is made.