Parents and Student Finance

A parent can be a birth parent, a step-parent or any person acting as your child’s parent.

You usually need to help with your child’s application if they are aged:

under 18 for Student Loan
under 24 for Student Allowance.

If your child is 16 or 17, doesn’t qualify for a student allowance and lives away from home to study on a tertiary course, you may be able to get an Away from Home Allowance from Work and Income.

Go to Away from Home Allowance on the Work and Income website.

Student Loan

If your child is under 18 when they apply for their student loan, you need to sign their contract to give your consent to them borrowing from the government. You can’t withdraw your consent.

You are not guaranteeing their student loan. Your child is responsible for paying their loan back.

Student Allowance

If your child is under 24 when they apply for their student allowance, you need to tell us your income.

Your income for Student Allowance

All income both parents receive is used to calculate the student allowance your child could get. This is more than just taxable income and includes, for example, money from businesses and trusts.

We test your total annual income for the year your child applies for a student allowance. We usually need you to provide evidence for this income.

If you have more than one child studying at the same time you can complete one form for all children.

Go to the parents’ income page for a full list of what we consider your income.

How your income affects Student Allowance

If you receive over $55,027.96 a year, the student allowance your child could get is reduced.

Your child can’t get a student allowance if you receive more than:

$84,016.80 gross, if your child lives with you while they study
$91,264.01 gross, if your child doesn’t live with you while they study.

In some circumstances we don’t test some of your income.

If you live in a separate household from your child’s other parent, we don’t test $3,400 of your total combined income.
If you support other full-time students aged 16 to 23, for each of those students we don’t test $7,000 of your total combined income.

Go to the parental income calculator to find out the student allowance your child could get.

How to tell us your income

You need to tell us your income by sending us all the StudyLink forms that apply to you, with evidence of your income.

Check each of these circumstances and send forms for all the circumstances that apply to you and your child’s application.

You have income from multiple sources.
Your child doesn’t have children.
You are the applicant’s only parent.
Your income has reduced since your child’s application was approved.
Your income has reduced since your child’s application was declined.

With your forms, send:

evidence of all your sources of income
evidence of your nil income – if both parents have no income.

Go to Documents supporting your application to find out about submitting documents online through New Zealand Post’s service, Connect.

You have income from multiple sources

If you receive multiple sources of income, you need to send us a completed parental income worksheet.

This worksheet is designed to be completed by the person responsible for the financial accounts of any legal entities you have an interest in or receive a financial benefit from, including any business, partnership, company or trust. This may be you, your accountant or tax agent.

When you complete this worksheet, provide us with your current total gross annual income.

Go to the Parental Income Worksheet.

Your child doesn’t have children

If your child doesn’t have children, you need to send us a completed parents’ form.

If you are separated from your child’s other parent, you can each complete a parents’ form and send these to us separately.

Go to the Parents’ form.

You are your child’s only parent

In some circumstances we will use only one parent’s total annual income to calculate the student allowance your child can get.

Only one of the child’s parents is living
There is a breakdown in the relationship between the child and one of their parents.

In any of these circumstances, you need to send us a completed one parent application form. You won’t need to complete a separate parent’s form.

Go to the One Parent Application form.

Your income has changed since your child’s application was approved

We may be able to re-calculate your child’s allowance if your combined annual income with their other parent:

was more than $55,027.96 when we approved their application
has reduced by 25 per cent or more during this child’s study period.

In these circumstances, you need to send us a completed reassessment of parents’ income application form.

You need to send us this form before the end of the course your child is receiving a student allowance for.

If we approve your application, we’ll recalculate your child’s student allowance rate from the date your income reduced.

We can’t reassess your income until the reduction has occurred.

Go to the Reassessment of Parents’ Income form.

Your income has changed since your child’s application was declined

If we declined your child’s application because your income was above the limit, and your income reduces, you need to complete another parents’ form.

You need to send us your new parents’ form as soon as possible. We usually approve your child’s student allowance only from the date we receive the new information.

Go to the Parents’ form.