Greater proportion of students use Student Loan Scheme

Greater proportion of students use Student Loan Scheme – Media release

While fewer students were enrolled in tertiary education in 2011, a greater proportion took out a student loan, Statistics New Zealand said today. The total number of tertiary students enrolled decreased 7.4 percent in 2011, but the total number of student loan borrowers decreased only 2.4 percent. This led to the proportion of tertiary students using the Student Loan Scheme increasing to 48.1 percent in 2011, up from 45.6 percent in 2010.

The average amount borrowed in a year continued to increase in 2011. Just over 207,000 students borrowed an average of $7,630 in 2011, which included a 7.1 percent increase in the average amount borrowed for course fees.

Borrowers who left study in 2010 (the latest year data is available for) had an average student loan leaving debt of $16,050, up 4.8 percent from those who left study in 2009. Bachelor-level students who left study in 2010 had an average student loan leaving debt of $22,060.

In 2011, the number of students receiving a student allowance during the year increased to just over 97,000, up 3.6 percent from 2010. This was 22.6 percent of all tertiary students, up from 20.2 percent in 2010. The average student allowance received in a year increased 1.8 percent, to $6,770 in 2011.

The Student Loans and Allowances: 2011 information release contains information from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development, and Inland Revenue. This information is linked by Statistics NZ. Linking allows us to report on the educational characteristics of student loan borrowers and student allowance recipients, as well as their loans, allowances, income, and repayment information.

ENDS

StudentLoansandAllowances11.pdf
SLA_2011tables.xls

© Scoop Media