Income - StudyLink

If you get a scholarship, we'll count this as income for Student Allowance unless it's a:

• TeachNZ Scholarship (but not Career Changer Scholarship)
• New Zealand Scholarship (awarded by NZQA)
• Tuli Takes Flight Scholarship.

If the terms and conditions of the scholarship state that an amount must be paid for your fees, this amount is not counted as income. The rest of the scholarship is counted as income.

How to work out your weekly income

To work out your weekly income:

• take the total amount of the scholarship and minus the amount used for fees (as stated by the terms and conditions), then
• divide the rest of the scholarship by the number of weeks you get the scholarship for.

Example 1

Declan is awarded a scholarship of $2,000. The terms and conditions state that the whole amount of $2,000 must be used for fees.

This means the scholarship is not counted as income for his Student Allowance.

Example 2

John is awarded a scholarship of $10,000. The terms and conditions state that $6,000 must be used for fees so this is not counted as income.

This means the amount of $4,000 is counted as income – even if John decides to use some of it for his fees.

To work out John's weekly income, we would divide the $4,000 by the number of weeks he's getting the scholarship for.

Example 3

Briar is awarded a scholarship of:

• 1 year’s accommodation at a hall of residence, and
• a $2,000 payment.

The terms and conditions state that the $2,000 payment must be used for study-related costs.

This means the amount of $2,000 is counted as income for her Student Allowance - even if she decides to use some of it for her fees. The value of the accommodation at the hall of residence would also be counted as income for her Student Allowance.

To work out Briar's weekly income, we would add the value of the 1 year's accommodation and the $2,000 together. Then we would divide this total by the number of weeks she's getting the scholarship for.