Loans for students typically provide several deferment options and a number of extended repayment terms.

Student study loan criteria in New Zealand

In order to be eligible for a student loan in New Zealand, you must be either:

• a New Zealand citizen,
• a New Zealand permanent residence
• a refugee
• or a protected person under the Immigration Act 2009.

You must sign a contract with the government as well as enroll in a tertiary education approved course. The course can be full time or limited and can be 32 weeks or longer.

One point worth noting is that permanent New Zealand citizens and Australian citizens must go through a two-year stand down period before they receive their study loan. This specifies that either you must reside in New Zealand for at least two years or be an ordinary citizen of New Zealand.

People who are not required to complete this formality are refugees, people sponsored by a family member of New Zealand, protected persons under the Immigration Act 2009 and, of course, New Zealand citizens.

As a transition measure, the government has exempted students who are applying for study between 1st January and 31st July, 2011 from the criteria of completing two years of residency.

This can be achieved by those students who can demonstrate their commitment to study for some time, who are suffering from financial crisis and on compassionate grounds such as personal circumstances.

Student loan restrictions

There are some circumstances prevalent in life that can prevent you to use all parts of your loan, such as if you are in prison and if you are receiving a training-incentive allowance.

You are also not entitled if you are either bankrupt or already sponsored by government loan on a course and if you are already on benefit.

In these circumstances, you can use only few parts of study loan and may not be entitled for entire benefit of loan. Check with your loan provider if you have special circumstances that you think may affect your entitlement to your student loan.

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