Learners who have already used Fees Free in their first year of study or training won’t be able to access final-year Fees Free.

First-year Fees Free transition period in 2025

First-year Fees Free only covered some fees in 2025, while the policy transitioned out.

If learners used Fees Free in 2024, they could continue to use their remaining first-year Fees Free entitlement in 2025 if they:

• were continuing study or training towards the same qualification in 2025 as they were in 2024, and
• had Fees Free entitlement remaining. 

Learners’ fees were covered until the end of 2025, or until they reached 24 months (work-based learning), one EFTS (provider-based study), or up to $12,000 (including GST), whichever occurred first.

Provider-based courses that continue across years

First-year Fees Free covered the full course fees within the learner’s remaining entitlement where courses started in 2024 or earlier. Please report the fees for these learners as you normally would in your 2024 Fees Free All Enrolments and Costs templates.

For courses that started in 2025 and were covered under the transition rules, Fees Free only covered the fees for the portion of the courses that were delivered up to 31 December 2025. The learner needed to pay fees if they were enrolled in a course that finished after 2025.

Please report the EFTS and fees charged to the learner for the full course in your 2025 Fees Free All Enrolments and Costs returns. On validation of your submission, we will calculate the amount of fees covered by Fees Free, and communicate this to you via the Multiple Providers and Cap Limit report. You may invoice the learner for remaining fees not covered by Fees Free.

Work-based programmes that continue beyond 2025

Under the first-year Fees Free transition rules, work-based learners who enrolled in 2024 and continued with the same qualification into 2025 had their fees for that programme covered only up to the end of 2025 (and within the learner’s remaining 24-month and $12,000 maximum entitlement).

For reporting, please state the fees incurred by the learner up to 31 December 2025 only. Where a fee period is reported to end after 31 December 2025, we will calculate the portion of the fees incurred up to 31 December 2025, and inform you of the reduced payment amount in your Remittance report. You may charge the learner for fees incurred after 31 December 2025.

Reporting and wash-ups for first-year Fees Free

You have until 30 April 2026 to finalise your first-year Fees Free reporting for 2018 to 2025. This includes correcting any outstanding errors, and adding any learners that have been missed. Remember to check for a Single Data Return (SDR) and/or Industry Training Register (ITR) reconciliation report in Workspace 2, which will help you identify any eligible learners that have been missed.

If you need any help with your reporting or errors, check the reporting guides, or contact us for assistance on 0800 601 301, or customerservice@tec.govt.nz.

Guidance – first-year Fees Free

We’ll run a final validation of your first-year data in May 2026 and make final payments. After this, we won’t be able to make any further Fees Free allocation changes, so it’s important that you ensure your data is complete and accurate before 30 April 2026. Tertiary education organisations (TEOs) will not be able to charge learners for fees that would have been eligible for Fees Free, where we did not pay you because of an error or delay in your reporting.

2025 Fees Free indicative allocations

All tertiary education organisations received a zero-dollar Fees Free indicative allocation for 2025. We made monthly payments to you in 2025 on behalf of eligible learners, as required.

Keep up to date

We will update tertiary education organisations on any reporting and process changes via the TEC website and Fees Free Focus.

Sign up to the Fees Free Focus newsletter for policy, process, and reporting updates

Frequently asked questions

I have some Fees Free reporting errors in previous years. Can I still fix them and get a wash-up adjustment?

Yes! Please check your reports for previous years and make sure you’ve included all eligible learners and fixed up any errors as soon as possible.

From 31 December 2025, we are no longer accepting changes to first-year Fees Free eligibility, or entitlement for 2018 to 2025. It’s important that we clean data up as much as possible before 31 December 2025, so that no learner misses out on their first-year entitlement. TEOs’ last opportunity to finalise first-year Fees Free reporting will be through the 2025 wash-up process, in early 2026.

Learners who have studied or trained using first-year Fees Free will not be able to access Fees Free for their final year.

How do I report learners who are covered by the first-year Fees Free transition rules?

You should report the 2025 enrolments for these learners as you normally would in your Fees Free reporting templates, and we’ll calculate the payment we need to make to you on behalf of the learners. You’ll receive confirmation of these allocations via the usual Work-based Remittance or Multiple Providers and Cap Limit reports.

How will I know which learners are covered by the first-year Fees Free transition rules?

We’ve provided a list of learners who used Fees Free in 2024 and have remaining entitlement for 2025 in the 2025 Fees Free eligibility file, which is published on Workspace 2.

You only need to report learners who are on this list.

Some TEOs find it easier to include all enrolled learners in their Fees Free returns. If you prefer to do this, that’s okay too. During validation we’ll exclude learners who are not entitled to Fees Free under the transition rules, and let you know which learners we’re allocating funding for.

Do learners need to continue in the same qualification with the same TEO to meet the transition rules?

Learners continuing in the same qualification do not need to continue the qualification with the same TEO to continue to access their entitlement. A learner may access their remaining entitlement in 2025 at a different TEO, as long as they were using Fees Free in 2024, and are studying or training towards the same qualification.

For most enrolments, we’ll use the qualification code to validate this. In some cases where TEOs have bespoke qualification codes, we may also use the qualification title, credit amount and length to determine whether the learner is in the same qualification.

What does same qualification mean?

If a learner is enrolled in provider-based study in 2024, in a programme leading to a qualification, and they are continuing study in 2025, they must be undertaking courses towards the same qualification to receive Fees Free.

For example, if they are working towards a Bachelor of Arts in 2024 and continue to in 2025, they will be eligible for Fees Free (as long as they continue to meet other eligibility criteria, and have remaining entitlement). However, if they change to a Bachelor of Science in 2025, they will not be eligible.

If a learner is enrolled in work-based learning in 2024, in a training programme or apprenticeship leading to qualification(s), and they are continuing training in 2025, they must continue in the same training programme or apprenticeship to receive Fees Free.

For example, if they are doing a New Zealand Apprenticeship in Carpentry in 2024, and continue to in 2025, they will be eligible for Fees Free (as long as they continue to meet other eligibility criteria, and have remaining entitlement). However, if they change to a New Zealand Apprenticeship in Sawmilling, they will not be eligible.

What do I need to tell my learners? Do you have communications I can send to my learners?

Please direct your learners to the Fees Free website for information on the end of first-year Fees Free: FeesFree.govt.nz

New learners from 2025 onwards should go to Inland Revenue’s website for information on the final-year Fees Free.

Final-year Fees Free – Inland Revenue

To help you provide the most up-to-date information for your learners we have prepared content for you to use on your website.

Content for TEO websites – final-year Fees Free