FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Studylink Listens and Responds to Students
3 October 2014
Press Release: New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations
Studylink are launching their new student focused campaign in preparation of semester one 2015. The campaign was
developed in partnership with the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA). In addition, Studylink have
redeveloped their website, created a more streamlined application process, and produced new content targeted at tertiary
providers and parents.
“When students are told they need to get their application in early they don’t realise applications can take up to eight
weeks to process. In consultation with NZUSA, Studylink anticipates all applications received before the 16th of
December 2014 will be processed before courses begin in 2015,” says NZUSA President Daniel Haines.
“In conjunction with Studylink, NZUSA organised peer to peer online discussion groups to capture student experiences
about Studylink and provide constructive feedback to improve the service. This research project has been an outstanding
success and resulted in meaningful change with Studylink incorporating a range of responses into their systems and
processes.
“The application process to receive a Student Loan and or Student Allowance has multiple steps, by simplifying the
application process students will know how their application is tracking. The introduction of a progress bar will let
the student know at what stage their application is tracking to approval. Additional to this, students returning to
study will just need to confirm their previous details are correct and won’t need to provide or independently confirm
the same information.
“Navigating tertiary study for the first time can be incredibly intimidating, especially if higher education has not
been socialised in your whanau and community. Students welcome all moves by Studylink which reduce barriers to obtain
the funds which are necessary to access higher education,” said Haines.
ENDS