Financial assistance and scholarships

There are a number of ways we can help you study when finance is an issue:

  • In the first instance, you should check out the various government schemes to help people study – including the student loans and allowances administered by StudyLink.
  • The Ministry of Education also administers scholarship programmes for trainee teachers.
  • If you are working in mental health and wanting to study, you may be eligible for a mental health support worker training grant.
  • For information and help on paying for your studies, budgeting and managing money, you can also go to Sorted Students, a section of the New Zealand Retirement Commission’s website to help New Zealanders manage their personal finances.

 Open Polytechnic Scholarships

Each year, we offer scholarships to students with disabilities and for Māori and Pacific Island students. Māori and Pacific Island students can contact the Learning Advisor Maori on 0508 650 200.

All other Open Polytechnic scholarship information can be found here.

 Student assistance fund – Open Polytechnic

Open Polytechnic administers a student assistance fund to help pay for tuition fees and/or textbooks for students in financial need.  Student Assistance may be approved to cover all or part of your tuition fee and up to $250 for textbooks. Download the Student Assistance Application form at the bottom of the page or contact us for more information.

Training incentive allowance – Work and Income

If you receive a benefit, you may be entitled to a training incentive allowance (TIA). If you think you might be eligible for help paying your fees through the training TIA scheme, contact Work and Income or see your case worker to discuss your eligibility.

Complete the personal details section of the TIA form and send it to the Enrolments Section with your application for enrolment. Put your case worker’s name and Work and Income branch on your application for enrolment.

We will complete the TIA form and return it to your case worker for final approval. This process takes about 4 weeks. 

External scholarships

There are numerous organisations offering funding and support for people wanting to study. The best source of information is the Break Out section of the New Zealand Funding Information Service site which holds details of over 2,200 funding schemes.  This service is a prepay/subscription service, however you may use 'Break Out' for free at public libraries and other locations, such as Citizens Advice Bureaux and community centres. To find out where 'Break Out' can be accessed for free click on the New Zealand map on the right hand side of the homepage.

You may also get external scholarship information from CareersNZ.