Business people taking notes.

Student Loan January – December 2021

For this report, a student is defined as a person who received at least one payment from StudyLink in the calendar year, up to the end of the specified reporting month.

The data in this report are cumulative calendar year-to-date figures. All percentages are computed using randomly rounded numbers, and then rounded to the nearest one decimal point. Total percentages may not add up to exactly 100 percent because of rounding effects. The last three years of data and annual comparisons are presented in summary tables. Earlier figures are included in the downloadable Excel files.


Education Providers

Student Loan borrowers enrolled in universities increased

From January to December 2021, 96,801 students drew down a Student Loan for study at university. This was an increase of 3.5 percent when compared with the same period last year.

Fig1: SL types of providers

Number of Student Loan borrowers by types of education providers

Types of providers January to December Annual change
2019 2020 2021 2019-20 2020-21
University 93,084 93,570 96,801 0.5% 3.5%
Te Pūkenga 35,643 35,412 32,031 -0.6% -9.5%
Private training establishment (PTE) 15,549 15,180 13,755 -2.4% -9.4%
Wānanga 2,907 2,673 2,403 -8.0% -10.1%
Multiple and Other providers 2,052 2,070 2,004 0.9% -3.2%
Total number of Student Loan borrowers 149,229 148,905 146,994 -0.2% -1.3%

Note 1: From April 2020 Te Pūkenga brought together the existing 16 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) into one organisation.

Note 2: "Multiple and Other providers" includes combination/s of providers (e.g. university and Te Pūkenga, PTE and university) that some students attended during the specified reporting period.


Student Loan course fees borrowing by types of education providers

Types of providers January to December Annual change
2019 2020 2021 2019-20 2020-21
University $602,203,150 $614,112,283 $639,376,568 2.0% 4.1%
Te Pūkenga $157,466,016 $148,964,973 $133,818,115 -5.4% -10.2%
Private training establishment (PTE) $85,137,352 $85,531,109 $80,179,867 0.5% -6.3%
Wānanga $5,978,706 $5,412,227 $4,938,940 -9.5% -8.7%
Multiple and other providers $15,348,539 $16,597,956 $16,018,113 8.1% -3.5%
Total amount borrowed for course fees $866,133,763 $870,618,548 $874,331,603 0.5% 0.4%

Note 1: From April 2020 Te Pūkenga brought together the existing 16 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) into one organisation.

Note 2: "Multiple and other providers" includes combination/s of providers (e.g. university and Te Pūkenga, PTE and university) that some students attended during the specified reporting period.

Note 3: Amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar and first decimal place for percentages.