Student Allowance

To get a Student Allowance, you must meet certain criteria.

In most cases you have to be:

• between 18-65, and
• studying full-time.

In some circumstances you’ll be able to get it if you’re 16-17 or studying part-time.

You also have to meet criteria around residency and your course. There are also extra criteria you have to meet if you've had a Student Allowance before.

Residency criteria

You need to meet the residency requirements. For most people, this means you need to be either:

• a New Zealand citizen, or
• ordinarily resident in New Zealand and have:
  • lived in New Zealand for at least 3 years and
  • held a residence class visa for at least 3 years.

If you don't meet this criteria, there are other residency criteria you may meet.

Your course

You must be studying either:

• at an approved education provider in New Zealand and doing an approved course which is either:
  • an undergraduate course (level 7 or below on the National Qualifications Framework), or
  • a Bachelor degree with honours
• overseas through an approved education provider in New Zealand
• at secondary school.

If you've had a Student Allowance before

You must also:

• meet the passing requirements
• not have exceeded the number of weeks you can get a Student Allowance for.

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Who can’t get it

You can’t get a Student Allowance if you're either:

• on a benefit that you can stay on while you're studying
• getting NZ Super or Veteran's Pension (or your partner is getting one of these)
• in prison, or
• over 65.

If you have a study break for more than 3 weeks, you can't get a Student Allowance. If you need help during your break, you can apply for Jobseeker Support Student Hardship.

This will always depend on how much income you get.

It may also depend on:

• your parents' income, if you're under 24 with no children, or
• your partner's income, if you're both over 24 or have a child.

You can estimate how much Student Allowance you may be able to get by using one of the Student Allowance calculators.

Parents' income - under 24 with no children

Your parents' income will be considered if you:

• are under 24, and
• don't have children

It doesn't matter if you have a partner or not.

If you don't have any parents or don't have any kind of relationship with your parents, their income may not be considered.

Partner's income - if you have a partner

For Student Allowance, a partner is someone you are in a recognised relationship with.

This means your partner's income will be considered if you and your partner are either:

• both over 24, or
• support a child.

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Accommodation Benefit

If you get a Student Allowance, you may also be able to get an Accommodation Benefit. We'll work out if you can get this when you apply for your Student Allowance.

You can apply at any time before or during your course. We must receive all the documents we need before the end of your course.

If you apply after your course starts, we can only pay you from the date you submit your application.

You apply online.

If you're studying for more than 1 year, you need to reapply for a Student Allowance each year that you study.

Applying for the first time

If you’re applying for the first time, there are a number of steps you must take.

Had a Student Allowance in the last 12 months

If you’ve had a Student Allowance in the last 12 months, you can apply in your MyStudyLink account.

Had a Student Allowance more than 12 months ago

If you’ve had a Student Allowance more than 12 months ago, you'll need to follow a different process.

You'll need to send us any documents we ask for.

Once we've got everything we need from you, we'll confirm your enrolment details with your education provider. You need to be fully enrolled before we can do this.

Manage your application

You can check how your application's going, or look at your payment information, online in MyStudyLink.

Application approved before course starts

If your Student Allowance application is approved before your course starts, you’ll get your first weekly payment in the second week of your course.

You won’t get any money in the first week of your course because we pay you in arrears, which means you study for one week and get paid for that study in the next week. When you finish your course, you’ll get your last payment a week later.

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Application approved after course starts

If you applied before your course started, you’ll get a back payment to when your course started. This will be paid to you in a lump sum. You’ll then get your first weekly payment a week later.

If you applied after your course started, you’ll get a back payment to the date you submitted your application. This will be paid to you in a lump sum. You’ll then get your first weekly payment a week later.

You won’t get your first weekly payment until a week later because we pay you in arrears, which means you study for one week and get paid for that study in the next week. When you finish your course, you’ll get your last payment a week later.

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Applied for Student Allowance and living costs

You can't get both the full amount of living costs and the Student Allowance at the same time.

If your loan is approved first, you’ll get the weekly living costs payments that you’ve asked for. Once your Student Allowance is approved, your living costs will reduce by the amount of Student Allowance you get.

Example

You're getting weekly living costs payments of $323.43. Your Student Allowance is approved for $200 a week so your living costs will go down to $123.43 a week.

Back payment of Student Allowance

If we owe you any back payment of Student Allowance:

• this will be paid onto your loan first, to pay back any living costs you received
• we'll put some towards any debts you have with the Ministry of Social Development (eg StudyLink, Work and Income)
• we'll then pay the rest to you.

If you're getting Student Allowance and your circumstances change, you need to let us know. If you don't let us know, you may get a debt.