Who qualifies?

Who can get a student loan?

Regardless of what you or your parents earn, to get a student loan you'll need to:

• be a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident, refugee entitled to live in New Zealand indefinitely, protected person (under the Immigration Act 2009), or a person sponsored into New Zealand by a family member who holds refugee status (from 1 January 2011), and
• sign a contract with the Government
• be enrolled on a Tertiary Education Commission approved course. The course must be full-time, (limited full-time with approval), or part-time and 32 weeks or longer. Part-time students won't get the living costs portion of the student loan.

From 1 January 2011, permanent residents and Australian citizens will be subject to a two-year stand-down before they can receive a Student Loan. This means that they will need to have lived in New Zealand for at least two years and be ordinarily resident in New Zealand. Permanent residents will also need to have held permanent residence for at least two years to qualify.

Some people will not need to meet the two-year requirement. For more information visit the StudyLink website.

Who can't get a student loan?

Someone who:

• Is currently bankrupt.
• Is on a course already paid for by the Government such as STAR or TOPS.

Limited Full-time
You have limited full-time status when you're not a full-time student but are treated as one when being assessed for the Student Loan. To qualify for limited full-time status, there must be a good reason why you can’t study full-time, for example:

• You have an illness, a disability or some other reason beyond your control or
• You have to reduce your course to less than full-time on academic advice or
• You're studying more than half a full-time course and your course completes a recognised programme.