FEES FREE CHANGES

POLICY CLARIFICATION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

We’ve had a few queries come in about the fees-free policy changes coming in from 2025 as a result of Government policy changes and what that means for our apprentices and trainees, or those currently looking to sign up.

The official information is on feesfree.govt.nz and we advise you to check that out, and contact them directly on the contact details listed to find out your individual eligibility.

But we wanted to give you some general information, since the change from “first year fees free” to “final year fees free” in 2025 is a bit complicated, especially for apprentices and trainees that signed up in 2024.

We asked the Ministry of Education to clarify, and they have confirmed that the ‘first year fees free’ payments completely finish at the end of 2025. That’s a hard stop, even if by that stage you have not been training for 24 months.

In addition, if you have had any fees covered under the ‘first year’ scheme, you also need to know you won’t be eligible for the ‘final year free’ refunds. It’s a case of you come under one scheme or the other, but not both.

So, what’s the good news? If you signed on as a fees-free trainee or apprentice during 2024, your fees will be covered by the government until the end of 2025 – so you definitely have one more year of fees free to go.

However, if you signed on during 2024, especially later in the year, this policy change means you will not have fees covered for the full 24 months, like the original policy.

We think this is very unfortunate for trainees and apprentices that signed on before these government decisions were made. But more to the point we know life is pretty tough out there, and without fees free, some of our learners are going to find it financially harder, since we (like all education and training providers) will need to return to charging fees upfront.

We are considering what we can do for the specific 2024 group that may be impacted by the change from ‘first year fees free’ to ‘final year fees free’. If a solution can be found, we will update you.
We’ve had a few queries come in about the fees-free policy changes coming in from 2025 as a result of Government policy changes and what that means for our apprentices and trainees, or those currently looking to sign up.

The official information is on feesfree.govt.nz and we advise you to check that out, and contact them directly on the contact details listed to find out your individual eligibility.

But we wanted to give you some general information, since the change from “first year fees free” to “final year fees free” in 2025 is a bit complicated, especially for apprentices and trainees that signed up in 2024.

We asked the Ministry of Education to clarify, and they have confirmed that the ‘first year fees free’ payments completely finish at the end of 2025. That’s a hard stop, even if by that stage you have not been training for 24 months.

In addition, if you have had any fees covered under the ‘first year’ scheme, you also need to know you won’t be eligible for the ‘final year free’ refunds. It’s a case of you come under one scheme or the other, but not both.

So, what’s the good news? If you signed on as a fees-free trainee or apprentice during 2024, your fees will be covered by the government until the end of 2025 – so you definitely have one more year of fees free to go.

However, if you signed on during 2024, especially later in the year, this policy change means you will not have fees covered for the full 24 months, like the original policy.

We think this is very unfortunate for trainees and apprentices that signed on before these government decisions were made. But more to the point we know life is pretty tough out there, and without fees free, some of our learners are going to find it financially harder, since we (like all education and training providers) will need to return to charging fees upfront.

We are considering what we can do for the specific 2024 group that may be impacted by the change from ‘first year fees free’ to ‘final year fees free’. If a solution can be found, we will update you.