Changes to the Fees Free programme in 2025

The Government has announced a new Fees Free programme for the final year of training. This will replace the current first-year Fees Free programme which will finish at the end of 2024.

The new programme will be available for fees covering the final year of training for learning from 1 January 2025.

Learners entering their final year of study from the beginning of January, and who have not received the existing first-year Fees Free, may be eligible for the new scheme.

Although the current first-year Fees Free scheme is ending, learners who have not used their full Fees Free entitlement by the end of 2024 may be able to continue that entitlement into 2025.

This applies only to learners continuing on the same programme in 2025, and that have Fees Free entitlement remaining.

Learners will be able to access their entitlement until the end of 2025, or until they reach their 24-month cap for work-based learning (120 credit programme min, or $12,000 cap including GST) whichever occurs first. If you would like to know more about Fees Free, visit feesfree.govt.nz

As with the current Fees Free scheme, repayment of fees for the final-year Fees Free programme will be made after the learner completes their qualification, with refunds beginning in 2026. The government is still working through detailed policy design and implementation for the final-year Fees Free scheme. Once decisions are made, more information will be available.

We encourage learners to check if they are eligible for Fees Free by using ‘NSN checker’. You will need your National Student Number (NSN) to find out your Fees Free eligibility status. Please provide the result to HITO Support who will include it in your training agreement and records.

If you have questions about your Fees Free status, you can call the Tertiary Education Commission who administer Fees Free, on 0800 601 301 or email customerservice@tec.govt.nz