How learners can check their eligibility status

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has created an ‘NSN checker’ at FeesFree.govt.nz. Learners enter their National Student Number (NSN) into the tool to check their Fees Free eligibility status.

Once a learner has entered their NSN, and selected their study type and the year they intend to study, the website will return one of four statuses. This status indicates the learner’s eligibility for Fees Free for that year and study type, based on the information that the TEC currently holds on that learner.

• Yes – the learner is eligible for Fees Free. Once enrolled, there is nothing further the learner needs to do in order to access Fees Free. Their tertiary education organisation (TEO) should report their eligible fees to TEC at the earliest opportunity, so that TEC can confirm the Fees Free allocation for the learner.
• No – the learner isn’t eligible for Fees Free. The learner will need to organise another method of payment for their fees.
• Maybe (Unknown) – the TEC does not have enough information to confirm if the learner is eligible for Fees Free. The learner will need to read the eligibility criteria to determine whether they are eligible or not. If they meet the eligibility criteria, they should follow the steps to complete a statutory declaration. If they do not meet the eligibility criteria, they should not complete a statutory declaration. They need to organise another method of payment for their fees. See the statutory declaration process below.
• Starter – the learner is eligible and has been reported as undertaking Fees Free eligible study and/or training in the year indicated (eg, a 2023 Starter started using their entitlement in 2023). The learner may or may not have remaining entitlement, depending on how much Fees Free they have used to date. If they have remaining entitlement, their TEO should report their eligible fees to TEC at the earliest opportunity, so that TEC can confirm the Fees Free allocation for the learner.

The statutory declaration process

Where the TEC does not have enough information available to determine a learner’s eligibility, the learner’s status will be Maybe (also known as Unknown) on the Fees Free website. The statutory declaration process enables such learners who meet the eligibility criteria to confirm with TEC that they are eligible to access Fees Free.

Please note: A statutory declaration is not an application form, or a way for you or a learner to check if they are eligible. A statutory declaration is a legal document and the information included on this must be true and correct. It is an offence to give any altered, false, incomplete or misleading information, or to make a false statement or declaration. If a learner is unsure if they meet the eligibility criteria, they should contact TEC for assistance before generating a statutory declaration.

If a learner does not meet the eligibility criteria, they will not be able to access Fees Free tertiary education or training and should not complete a statutory declaration.

If a learner meets the eligibility criteria, we recommend they return their statutory declaration to us by the end of the calendar year to ensure they receive Fees Free for any eligible study and/or training they do.

As part of completing their Fees Free statutory declaration, learners also need to confirm that they have read, understand and agree to the terms and conditions of declaring their eligibility for Fees Free. The terms and conditions are provided to the learner when they generate their statutory declaration on the Fees Free website. You can also read them at FeesFree.govt.nz FAQs.

As a reminder, learners should generate the statutory declaration themselves on the Fees Free website. You should not do this on behalf of any learners. If you need to generate a statutory declaration for a learner, you must ensure that the terms and conditions are provided to the learner alongside the statutory declaration so they can complete their statutory declaration appropriately.

If you or your learners have questions about the statutory declaration process, or the terms and conditions, please contact us at 0800 601 301 or customerservice@tec.govt.nz.

Once we have processed a statutory declaration, we will notify the learner via email and update both the Fees Free website and the Fees Free Eligibility files on Workspace 2. This process may take up to two business days.