SecQual

Fees and Financial Assistance for 2010
S2010/013 - 20 Apr 2010

The purpose of the circular is to provide information about fees for school qualifications in 2010.

Fee Structure for 2010

Due date for schools to forward fees collected from fee-payers

• Financial assistance applications must be made to NZQA by 1 September 2010.
• The due date for payment to NZQA of all fees collectedfrom fee-payers is 17 September 2010.

Schools are requested to set a collection date and process applications with these dates in mind.

Eligibility for Financial Assistance

The purpose of financial assistance is to ensure that fees are not a barrier to participation in qualifications for students in low-to-middle income families. Each year the Government provides limited funding for eligible students enrolled in New Zealand secondary schools who are entering standards on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and for Scholarship .

To be eligible for financial assistance the applicant (normally the parent or guardian of the candidate) must be the fee-payer and meet at least oneof the following criteria:

• be receiving a Work and Income or Study Link benefit (benefit-based applications)
• have a joint family [1] income that would entitle the applicant to receive a Community Services Card (income-based applications)
• be a fee-payer with two or more children who are candidates (multiple candidate applications [2]), where the total fees to pay would otherwise be more than the $200 multiple candidate maximum.

International fee-paying students are not eligible for financial assistance.

Financial Assistance fees schedule

Application form

The financial assistance application form and information sheet have been updated. Please direct fee-payers to this information and give candidates a copy of the information sheet as well.

Note: Ensure candidates are notified of the school’s due date to allow time for financial assistance applications to be processed and sent to NZQA by 1 September 2010.

Paper trail

While NZQA reserves the right to ask applicants to provide evidence in support of their application, there is no requirement for schools to sight this evidence when processing the application. NZQA may, in subsequent years, ask schools to provide copies of processed application forms.

Schools submitting entries by electronic file

School management software allows you to enter financial assistance applications into your system. When you upload your file to NZQA it will include the applications. NZQA will automatically approve these applications if all the information is complete. Financial assistance applications close with NZQA on 1 September 2010.

Schools submitting web entries

The website has the ability to capture applications for financial assistance. Financial assistance applications close with NZQA on 1 September 2010.

[1] 'Family' is defined as parents (or legal guardians) and their children.

[2] This applies only if the total fees for a fee-payer would be more than the $200 multiple candidate maximum. Fees for a single candidate are $75 except if they are entered for more than three Scholarship subjects or are an international fee-paying student. This means that most fee-payers paying for two candidates assessed against NQF standards this year will not be eligible for multiple candidate financial assistance.

Enquiries

Please refer any enquiries relating to this circular to your School Relationship Manager.

School Relationship Manager
Secondary Assessment and Liaison
Telephone: 04 463 3000
Fax: 04 463 3113
Email: firstname.lastname@nzqa.govt.nz