Fees Free

What is Fees Free?

Fees Free tertiary education and training is a policy introduced in 2018 to expand participation in tertiary education and reduce student debt in New Zealand. It is targeted towards final year learners. Fees Free covers up to $12,000 for final year’s study and is now paid directly to you, upon completion of your chosen programme.  This means that you will be required to pay your programme fees to Land Based Training, upfront, despite your eligibility before your course commences.  Please contact us if you would like to discuss your options with this.

The process is now to receive a refund from the Inland Revenue Department, if you do qualify for Final Years Free funding, upon completion of your chosen programme.  To access Fees Free, you must meet the eligibility criteria, and your course or programme must also be eligible. For more information on this, jump to the website by clicking the link below, which will redirect you to the official tool and information.

I am eligible for Fees Free, what do I need to do?

If you complete the Fees Free tool check and it says that you are eligible for fees free, you do not need to communicate this with Land Based Training, as this is now a refund process, and does not include our input.  We still require the full fees upfront, before your programme starts to be enrolled.

For more information on the Commission, please visit the Teritary Education Commission website.

Studylink

Studylink is part of the Ministry of Social Development and can help with a no interest loan to cover your course fees.

There are a number of ways Studylink can help pay for your study. They can also help you sort a budget and find out what you can get.

You need to apply as early as you can to make sure you get everything sorted in time, including your payments.

They may be able to help with:

  • compulsory course fees
  • course-related costs (eg, books, laptop, etc)
  • day-to-day living costs
  • other costs (eg disability or childcare).

How much you can get depends on your age, income and course type.