New Zealand scholarship payments

If you're awarded a NZ Scholarship from NZQA, we'll confirm you meet the payment criteria and then pay it to you.

Information about the NZ Scholarship and application process on the NZQA website

NZ Scholarship payment criteria

To qualify for the NZ scholarship payment, you need to be:

  • enrolled at a tertiary education provider in New Zealand
  • studying a course that's approved for Student Loan or Student Allowance
  • either:
    • studying more than 0.4 EFTS, or
    • studying part-time and have been classed as a full-time student (this means you've been approved for 'Limited full-time' study).
Definition of approved course
Definition of EFTS

  • Paying the scholarship to you

    Step 1 - We'll check you meet the payment criteria

    Once you've been awarded a New Zealand Scholarship, we'll send you a form and you need to:

    • check your education provider is correct
    • check your study start date is correct
    • get evidence of the bank account you want to be paid into (if we haven't seen this before)
    • sign the form.

    If this is your second or third year of getting the scholarship, you also need get evidence of your 'B' grade average for the year.

    Once you've got your form and documents, log in to Connect and upload these.

    We'll then confirm your enrolment details with your education provider.

    Step 2 - We'll pay the scholarship to you

    If you meet the criteria, we'll pay the NZ Scholarship to you once the Top Scholar ceremony is held (usually in the first 2 weeks of May).

    If this is your second or third year of getting the scholarship, we'll pay you once we've:

    • got your form and documents
    • confirmed your enrolment details with your education provider.

  • Postpone your scholarship

    If you've finished school but haven't got your first scholarship payment yet, you can postpone it for up to 4 consecutive years.

    You need to email us with 'Scholarship' as your topic. You also need to contact NZQA