We provide Gateway funding so that schools can meet the establishment and ongoing costs of arranging and managing a programme of study or training or a micro-credential that allows their learners to participate in structured workplace learning, including workplace assessment.

A school can either deliver its Gateway programme/s directly to learners or use a broker to provide all, or part, of the programme on its behalf.

Schools must use Gateway funding responsibly and for the purposes for which the funding is provided. For more information, please see the Gateway Handbook and the funding conditions for the relevant year.

Gateway Handbook (PDF 786 KB)

Funding mechanism

The Minister responsible for tertiary education issues the Gateway funding mechanism.

The funding mechanism sets out the purpose of the fund and gives authority to the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to administer the funding.

Funding is agreed off-Plan via a funding confirmation letter. A school that receives Gateway funding is required to:

• comply with the requirements of the Education and Training Act 2020, and
• comply with the funding conditions for the relevant year specified in its funding approval documentation.

The overall amount of Gateway funding available is set through the Government’s annual Budget process. We determine the appropriate amount of Gateway funding for a school through the annual investment process and in-year additional funding requests (if available).

Funding allocation and payments

Funding allocations, including any amendments, are available through the My Allocations and Payments app on DXP Ngā Kete.

Gateway funding is paid in equal monthly instalments.

For the calculation of indicative allocations see the methodology from the relevant year.

It is important to note that if a school fails to complete the previous year’s reporting obligations, or reports late, the following year’s indicative allocation will be zero learner places.

Indicative allocations are available in June–July each year via the My Allocations and Payments app. They are not a confirmed allocation. Confirmation of your final allocation will be provided to schools from October.

For more details regarding your specific allocation, please contact customerservice@tec.govt.nz.

Need help to access DXP Ngā Kete?

To have access to DXP Ngā Kete, your school must have an Education Sector Logon (ESL). If you do not have an ESL, you can follow the steps listed on the Ministry of Education’s website.

How to get an Education Sector Logon

We recommend you register with a generic email address such as admin@emailaddress.school.nz. This is so you can continue to access DXP Ngā Kete if a designated Gateway Coordinator leaves your school.

Funding rates

Gateway funding is allocated per learner place on a sliding scale. As the number of learner places at a school increases, the amount of funding per learner place decreases.

To see Gateway funding rates, please refer to Funding rates by year.

You will find the Gateway rates by navigating to the Gateway tab of the Funding rates spreadsheet for the relevant year.

For more information about your specific allocation, please contact customerservice@tec.govt.nz.

Accessing new or additional Gateway funding

The Gateway Additional Funding Round for 2025 is open from 3 March to 14 March 2025. If you would like to apply for additional Gateway places for 2025, please complete the Gateway Funding Application Form and submit to customerservice@tec.govt.nz by 5.00pm Friday 14 March 2025.

Gateway Funding Application Form (DOCX 320 KB)

If you would like to apply for Gateway funding for the first time, or you are an existing provider and want to increase your allocation for the following year, please apply before 31 August using the Gateway Funding Application Form above.

In September, we consider applications for funding for the following calendar year. As we have a limited amount of funding to allocate, we consider applications from new schools only if enough funding is available.

For more details about how to apply, please contact customerservice@tec.govt.nz.

For more information, please see the Gateway Handbook.

Decreasing your funded Gateway learner places

You can ask to reduce your funded Gateway learner places if you are likely to enrol fewer learners in the programme than you agreed to. Please let us know as soon as possible.

To request a reduction in Gateway learner places, please forward evidence of the principal requesting the reduction in places to customerservice@tec.govt.nz.

Funding wash-ups

At the end of each calendar year, if you have not delivered all of your Gateway placements, we will calculate a recovery of funding (funding wash-up).

For the calculation of funding wash-ups see the methodology and technical specifications from the relevant year. The most recent information is at the top.

Funding wash-ups by year