The Government wants to give certainty to students as soon as possible that they can continue to be engaged in their education and will be supported adequately until such time that tertiary education providers can put in place alternative ways of delivering teaching and learning.
This short-term tertiary domestic package will be available from Wednesday 15 April.
Key measures include:
- help cover extra costs, by increasing the student loan amount available for course-related costs for full-time students from $1,000 to $2,000, on a temporary basis. These course-related costs must be spent on things to support your learning at home like internet costs and increased energy consumption
- continue support payments for students unable to study on-line for up to 8 weeks
- make technical changes to ensure that:
- where students receive partial tuition fee refunds in 2020 because their course has been discontinued due to Covid-19, this will not affect their future entitlement to student loans
- where students are unable to complete a course of study in 2020 due to Covid-19, this will not affect their entitlement to Fees Free tertiary study.
These measures, together with the support the Ministry of Social Development can already give, aim to provide an immediate response to the financial impact Covid-19 is having on tertiary students.
Read more under advice for tertiary students
Hon Chris Hipkins COVID-19: Tertiary student support package – Beehive website