Education providers NorthTec and TANZ eCampus are providing free online courses for Northlanders who have been affected by COVID-19.

Both providers ensure that the learner receives adequate individual support, delivering all the course content online and even giving their learners access to Chromebook devices to support their study at home. If you’re upskilling or reselling and are experiencing financial barriers, then you may want to consider this new online learning initiative.

Check out this link for more information on fee-free courses.

When it comes to courses that are covered by fee-free education, there is a wide variety to choose from. Here are just some of the courses provided by NorthTec that can be made fees-free:

For a full list of courses offered, browse this list of eCampus NZ courses.

While it doesn’t cost anything to complete these courses, there are certain requirements you need to fulfil before you get started. See if you’re eligible by reviewing the criteria below:

To ensure that you are eligible, make sure to head on over to the New Zealand government website for fees-free education, and have your National Student Number on hand (NSN).

If you don’t know what your NSN is and you’ve studied after 2003, you can contact NZQA (0800 697 296) where they will ask questions to confirm your identity. It’s important to note that your eligibility may come up as a ‘maybe’.

If that’s the case, you’ll need to complete a statutory declaration. Once that is processed, you should be eligible for the initiative. If you’re still feeling lost as to whether or not you’re eligible for these courses, you can contact the providers directly for clarification, or via the government website listed above.

There are a couple of other points to keep in mind in regards to this new initiative. You will have to enrol by May 18th if you want to take advantage of this particular opportunity offered by these providers, and when it comes to fees, there are some aspects of your schooling that won’t be funded.

Tuition fees, associated mandatory fees and compulsory student services fees are all covered by the fee-frees education initiative, while course materials costs, late fees, students’ associations and club memberships are not.

You might also be wondering how much is actually covered by fees-free education. It entirely depends on your course. Since this initiative can cover up to $12,000 of fees, you can get one year of tertiary study or two years’ training if you’re an apprentice or training with an industry training organisation or employer.

No matter which course you choose, it will remain unchanged. You don’t have to worry about receiving a ‘lesser’ education through this initiative. You will still have full access to experienced tutors and other resources available on these online platforms.

Also, keep in mind that entry criteria still applies to all fees-free courses. Some courses will require some prior qualification. More information on entry criteria can be found through our website by clicking on the course you’re interested in. You might also want to know that all of NorthTech’s Level 2 courses are completely fees-free, but as you can see from above, many higher-level courses are available to you as well.

If you’re unsure whether the course you’re looking at is eligible for fees-free, you can enquire with the tertiary organisation or simply find the course you’re interested in on training.co.nz and click on ‘enquire’.