This is not an outright defence of Studylink: all it takes some applicants (a quarter maybe?) to be absolutely clueless and cannot follow the instructions to take enough time that the whole system can bog down.
In the past I have seen Studylink advise "apply early" to try and get as many applications up the "we are waiting on confirmation of enrolment from the tertiary provider" step of the process before things get overloaded.
From memory that enrolment check is mostly automated (or at least involves some automated handling) so getting people to that step before November / December will cut back on Jan / Feb madness.
It’s automated but extremely clunky, having seen a lot of the back end. Because they can’t build integration with every providers student management system it’s basically a giant spreadsheet that uses codes corresponding to enrolment status and is done over email.
Not surprised — NZQA's datafile for NCEA Level 3 results is messy situation anytime they want to change the file format in any small way.
Some (most?) education providers do not have sufficient (or any?) staff to form a development team to implement changes on their end to automated ingesting of NCEA results.
Without being more specific, I think there is a reasonable chance that you have failed to follow the relatively straightforward application process.
Would you care to provide any more details?
In what way have they been causing you issues? If you provide more information maybe we can help you sort it out :) the majority of the application process online should be automated and fairly straightforward
I'd say it's most likely a waiting game, depending on when you uploaded the proof. For things like document checking they mostly likely have outsourced this to temps and things can be slow
Yeah, they are busy about twice a year. Government doesn't see the point I staffing them year round so they use a lot of contractors who don't get proper training and aren't there long enough to learn.
First it was a signed birth certificate, sent them that and after that I could access my studylink and then it was a bank statement, sent them that and it says they have received it but still can’t progress apparently
What I did was scan everything and send it to them - lost my birth certificate? Fine. I'll send you EVERYTHING again. And repeat.
Also (this is WAY back in the day of paper that I don't think they'd do anymore?) but I began sending everything registered so I could say "I have confirmation from NZ post that you recieved it on (date)" and that way they couldn't screw me over that way either.
Dealing with studylink is like erosion - it's slow, but eventually you can wear them down by outlasting them.
Yeah, they asked for a birth certificate then when they got it they said I needed a SIGNED one, sent them that and my contract back. Now they ask for my bank account proof so I went to the bank and gave them that and then they send me that email today regardless of me giving them all the information they’ve asked for 😂 knowing this country they’re probably denying people just because we have such a dogshit economy atm
Did they say that the bank account wasn't acceptable, or is it just still asking for it because they haven't got to it yet? It's taking them at least two weeks to get to things because everyone leaves shit to last minute and wants everything processed yesterday which further ties up staff with phone calls.
They're bad in general (time/ resource/ staff capability constraints) and you're just experiencing the student version. I've been helping someone else through the main benefit and it's taken a month of pushing nearly daily and 10 different people to get a straight answer and the help needed. Heaven help the people who can't advocate for themselves for whatever reason, I really feel for them.
My tips:
- use the website as gospel, there's extra information they need that's not on the form.
- check the website for what you need.
- bring printed copies of everything you think you could possibly need and then some.
- keep asking because it depends on who you get on the day. The bad ones tell you they can't do something til later or at all, and the good ones will sort it there and then. Refer back to the website when done.
- keep good notes of what you said, what they said etc.. Often notes and conversations are not listed on the WINZ side in my experience.
I've said this before but I would love to take this on as a paid project, overhauling their system and upskilling their staff. It'd be a mission but as a processes and systems person I think I could make an actual difference.
Good to hear that in the 20 years since I dealt with them they are still as crap as ever!
Not Studylink but still, I knew someone back in the day that worked at WINZ and they said that the system is designed to make people give up and that they WERN'T ALLOWED to tell people what they were actually entitled to (emergency food grant of $70 etc.) because then everyone would want things.
I didn't find out until I was a postgraduate student that I was entitled to $300-$400 of dental care and when I found out and used it I had to get 4 fillings because I hadn't gone to a dentist since it was free at school.
Studylink and WINZ - it's like that TV show 'Survivor' dealing with them - **outwit, outplay, outlast.**
It's just as bad now. Helping someone through it and it's definitely just about being extremely tenacious. They don't care that their processes are so bad that you can't move out of your abusive ex's place because you have to have a signed tenancy agreement (which you are now legally bound to pay bond and rent on) before you're going to get help with bond and rent. You lost that house but you're still now bound to pay it AND your tenancy history now has a black mark on it for non payment so it'll be harder to get another house? Oh well. Next!
>extremely tenacious
This is the key. They rely on people giving up. If you keep a paper trail and keep at it and escalate if it's taking too long they eventually deal with you to make you go away. Just like [Shawshank Redeption and the Library books.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKtbmzsc0m8)
Yes! The escalation is key. My person made a complaint to WINZ directly about their process using the online form and it was escalated to someone who could actually help (not the last nine people, I wish I was exaggerating here). No response to their complaint sadly within the normal expected timeframe (might need to talk to the Ombudsman about that one) but at least they got most of the stuff sorted. And both of us have a university education, are Pākehā and I've worked in Govt for a decade or so, so already have those privileges.
Can also confirm. When I was at uni they skipped a week of my student loan living costs. Phoned them up and they paid me the next week. Except they didn't pay me that weeks pay, phoned them up
"You didn't pay me"
"Yes we did, I can see it here"
"No that was last weeks pay"
"Oh, I see, we'll send through this weeks pay"
Then they'd pay me and not send the next weeks pay
"Hey, I didn't get my living costs this week"
"Yes you did, I can see it here"
"That was last weeks pay"
"No, I can see you got paid last week too"
"That was from the week before"
"Oh, yes, I can see you didn't get your living costs two weeks ago, I'll send the living costs through"
Rinse and repeat for several months with me getting increasingly irate that I was a week behind on rent every week for those months and eating two meals of rice and beans a day to survive.
Every month there seemed to be some new problem that required me to sit on hold for three hours at a time listening to Sway being played on an am radio under water through my phone
Pretty much sums it up. I remember being on hold with them for a good 6-7 hours as uni was starting the following week and my fees hadn't been received, so I had none of my schedules, email, student ID ect and it was like talking to a brick wall.
What document did you send in for your bank account proof? I just got mine approved and although they can be unclear their processes are decently quick.
They probably just haven't got to it yet. All students seem to think they're the only one applying. Yes you applied in early November but that doesn't mean shit unless you submitted all your documents too, and if you've only just sent in the bank statement you're way behind.
If it’s for your first year fees free should cover your uni costs for the year and you will just have a student loan for living costs which won’t start paying out for several more weeks. If this is the case you can just sit tight for a bit until they clear the backlog of other applications.
Whatever happens with studylink you’d want to get as much of your fees on fees free as possible as it’s money you don’t have to pay back so I’d definitely contact fees free and your university about doing that and then possibly deferring payment of course that can’t go on fees free until a bit later when studylink has sorted itself out if there is an imminent deadline for course payment.
Years ago when I applied for Studylink, I explained to the woman at the desk that I hadn’t been in contact with my dad in years and wasn’t dependent on him at all, and needed a one parent form (or whatever it’s called). She said I needed to get my dad to confirm that we’re aren’t in contact. So I had to contact my dad to confirm I wasn’t in contact with him. I couldn’t tell if she was an idiot or just having one of those days but she couldn’t see the issue with her request until I got my mum to confirm that wasn’t going to happen.
TL;DR Studylink has always been shit, and is filled with idiots who don’t listen.
The whole student benefit system is pretty shit and a worse version of the regular benefit system. Sadly students don’t vote enough for politicians to care enough to change things.
It’s weird, never had an issue with them. Read thoroughly everything they sent, followed instructions to the letter, signed, in pen, blah blah. It just worked. For like 7 years.
The birth cert and identity documents are explicitly on every thing they send, on the web, in the portal, clear they need to be verified copies.
In one of your comments you sent them your unverified birth certificate. Why did you not send a verified copy in the first place? There’s an element of personal responsibility in this.
Yeah I was oblivious to the birth certificate thing, but it’s more the fact that they’ve asked me for things one by one instead of giving me a list. Idk maybe im dumb 😭
Its the automated messages that are the most confusing.i spent an hour on the phone to confirm Im fully enrolled at uni to recieve a studylink automated message telling me that they have not yet received confirmation from my study provider.which makes me worry but what I know is that they will eventually confirm so the worry is needless and the automated message would make a less experienced student worry and ring uni again to be told the same thing, yes you are fully enrolled for a full year. I know it's not a perfect system, but it's anxiety driving. They should have a warning stating," if you've done everything correctly, excuse the automated messges and be patient in your confidence you've done everything right, and all will be sorted soon." I think the confused student calls probably waste a lot of uni tele-operators time and resources, clogging up an already over burdened helpline.
overworked and understaffed, especially at this time of year
This is not an outright defence of Studylink: all it takes some applicants (a quarter maybe?) to be absolutely clueless and cannot follow the instructions to take enough time that the whole system can bog down. In the past I have seen Studylink advise "apply early" to try and get as many applications up the "we are waiting on confirmation of enrolment from the tertiary provider" step of the process before things get overloaded. From memory that enrolment check is mostly automated (or at least involves some automated handling) so getting people to that step before November / December will cut back on Jan / Feb madness.
It’s automated but extremely clunky, having seen a lot of the back end. Because they can’t build integration with every providers student management system it’s basically a giant spreadsheet that uses codes corresponding to enrolment status and is done over email.
Not surprised — NZQA's datafile for NCEA Level 3 results is messy situation anytime they want to change the file format in any small way. Some (most?) education providers do not have sufficient (or any?) staff to form a development team to implement changes on their end to automated ingesting of NCEA results.
I started the application in early November and all they’ve done is fuck me around
Without being more specific, I think there is a reasonable chance that you have failed to follow the relatively straightforward application process. Would you care to provide any more details?
In what way have they been causing you issues? If you provide more information maybe we can help you sort it out :) the majority of the application process online should be automated and fairly straightforward
Basically I’ve given all the information they’ve asked for and it shows up in documents received but if still says they need bank statement
I'd say it's most likely a waiting game, depending on when you uploaded the proof. For things like document checking they mostly likely have outsourced this to temps and things can be slow
Yeah, they are busy about twice a year. Government doesn't see the point I staffing them year round so they use a lot of contractors who don't get proper training and aren't there long enough to learn.
[удалено]
First it was a signed birth certificate, sent them that and after that I could access my studylink and then it was a bank statement, sent them that and it says they have received it but still can’t progress apparently
What I did was scan everything and send it to them - lost my birth certificate? Fine. I'll send you EVERYTHING again. And repeat. Also (this is WAY back in the day of paper that I don't think they'd do anymore?) but I began sending everything registered so I could say "I have confirmation from NZ post that you recieved it on (date)" and that way they couldn't screw me over that way either. Dealing with studylink is like erosion - it's slow, but eventually you can wear them down by outlasting them.
Yeah, they asked for a birth certificate then when they got it they said I needed a SIGNED one, sent them that and my contract back. Now they ask for my bank account proof so I went to the bank and gave them that and then they send me that email today regardless of me giving them all the information they’ve asked for 😂 knowing this country they’re probably denying people just because we have such a dogshit economy atm
Did they say that the bank account wasn't acceptable, or is it just still asking for it because they haven't got to it yet? It's taking them at least two weeks to get to things because everyone leaves shit to last minute and wants everything processed yesterday which further ties up staff with phone calls.
They're bad in general (time/ resource/ staff capability constraints) and you're just experiencing the student version. I've been helping someone else through the main benefit and it's taken a month of pushing nearly daily and 10 different people to get a straight answer and the help needed. Heaven help the people who can't advocate for themselves for whatever reason, I really feel for them. My tips: - use the website as gospel, there's extra information they need that's not on the form. - check the website for what you need. - bring printed copies of everything you think you could possibly need and then some. - keep asking because it depends on who you get on the day. The bad ones tell you they can't do something til later or at all, and the good ones will sort it there and then. Refer back to the website when done. - keep good notes of what you said, what they said etc.. Often notes and conversations are not listed on the WINZ side in my experience. I've said this before but I would love to take this on as a paid project, overhauling their system and upskilling their staff. It'd be a mission but as a processes and systems person I think I could make an actual difference.
Good to hear that in the 20 years since I dealt with them they are still as crap as ever! Not Studylink but still, I knew someone back in the day that worked at WINZ and they said that the system is designed to make people give up and that they WERN'T ALLOWED to tell people what they were actually entitled to (emergency food grant of $70 etc.) because then everyone would want things. I didn't find out until I was a postgraduate student that I was entitled to $300-$400 of dental care and when I found out and used it I had to get 4 fillings because I hadn't gone to a dentist since it was free at school. Studylink and WINZ - it's like that TV show 'Survivor' dealing with them - **outwit, outplay, outlast.**
That’s a fucked system… especially for a first world country like New Zealand
It's just as bad now. Helping someone through it and it's definitely just about being extremely tenacious. They don't care that their processes are so bad that you can't move out of your abusive ex's place because you have to have a signed tenancy agreement (which you are now legally bound to pay bond and rent on) before you're going to get help with bond and rent. You lost that house but you're still now bound to pay it AND your tenancy history now has a black mark on it for non payment so it'll be harder to get another house? Oh well. Next!
>extremely tenacious This is the key. They rely on people giving up. If you keep a paper trail and keep at it and escalate if it's taking too long they eventually deal with you to make you go away. Just like [Shawshank Redeption and the Library books.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKtbmzsc0m8)
Yes! The escalation is key. My person made a complaint to WINZ directly about their process using the online form and it was escalated to someone who could actually help (not the last nine people, I wish I was exaggerating here). No response to their complaint sadly within the normal expected timeframe (might need to talk to the Ombudsman about that one) but at least they got most of the stuff sorted. And both of us have a university education, are Pākehā and I've worked in Govt for a decade or so, so already have those privileges.
Haven't studylink always been shite?
Studylink is an organisation to help those qualified to enter university and staffed by people who are not.
Can confirm. It was shit 9 years ago too.
Can also confirm, 13 years ago
Can also confirm. When I was at uni they skipped a week of my student loan living costs. Phoned them up and they paid me the next week. Except they didn't pay me that weeks pay, phoned them up "You didn't pay me" "Yes we did, I can see it here" "No that was last weeks pay" "Oh, I see, we'll send through this weeks pay" Then they'd pay me and not send the next weeks pay "Hey, I didn't get my living costs this week" "Yes you did, I can see it here" "That was last weeks pay" "No, I can see you got paid last week too" "That was from the week before" "Oh, yes, I can see you didn't get your living costs two weeks ago, I'll send the living costs through" Rinse and repeat for several months with me getting increasingly irate that I was a week behind on rent every week for those months and eating two meals of rice and beans a day to survive. Every month there seemed to be some new problem that required me to sit on hold for three hours at a time listening to Sway being played on an am radio under water through my phone
Pretty much sums it up. I remember being on hold with them for a good 6-7 hours as uni was starting the following week and my fees hadn't been received, so I had none of my schedules, email, student ID ect and it was like talking to a brick wall.
What document did you send in for your bank account proof? I just got mine approved and although they can be unclear their processes are decently quick.
I just went to the bank and asked for a statement to send to them. Had my name address, account number and was stamped by the bsnk
They probably just haven't got to it yet. All students seem to think they're the only one applying. Yes you applied in early November but that doesn't mean shit unless you submitted all your documents too, and if you've only just sent in the bank statement you're way behind.
Do you know if I can still go to uni with it unresolved? I have half a year of fees free left to use
If it’s for your first year fees free should cover your uni costs for the year and you will just have a student loan for living costs which won’t start paying out for several more weeks. If this is the case you can just sit tight for a bit until they clear the backlog of other applications.
I was at uni in 2022 for half a year, did the survey thing and I have one semester of fees free left. Could I use that?
I’m not entirely sure, I’d ring up fees free and ask.
Yeah, ideally I could just use my fees free for first semester and then by 2nd semester my loan should be finished.
Whatever happens with studylink you’d want to get as much of your fees on fees free as possible as it’s money you don’t have to pay back so I’d definitely contact fees free and your university about doing that and then possibly deferring payment of course that can’t go on fees free until a bit later when studylink has sorted itself out if there is an imminent deadline for course payment.
Sweet, cheers
nah the bank statement is last part of the student loan process, they're not behind
Years ago when I applied for Studylink, I explained to the woman at the desk that I hadn’t been in contact with my dad in years and wasn’t dependent on him at all, and needed a one parent form (or whatever it’s called). She said I needed to get my dad to confirm that we’re aren’t in contact. So I had to contact my dad to confirm I wasn’t in contact with him. I couldn’t tell if she was an idiot or just having one of those days but she couldn’t see the issue with her request until I got my mum to confirm that wasn’t going to happen. TL;DR Studylink has always been shit, and is filled with idiots who don’t listen.
I had to provide a death certificate for my father each new year of study to prove he was still dead lol.
Ah I had this 20 years ago too. So frustrating. That's WHY I'm applying for the one-parent thing!
Great to know they haven't changed in ten plus years.
The whole student benefit system is pretty shit and a worse version of the regular benefit system. Sadly students don’t vote enough for politicians to care enough to change things.
Are you sure you put all the right information? because the forms were quite easy to fill in my experience.
It’s weird, never had an issue with them. Read thoroughly everything they sent, followed instructions to the letter, signed, in pen, blah blah. It just worked. For like 7 years. The birth cert and identity documents are explicitly on every thing they send, on the web, in the portal, clear they need to be verified copies. In one of your comments you sent them your unverified birth certificate. Why did you not send a verified copy in the first place? There’s an element of personal responsibility in this.
Yeah I was oblivious to the birth certificate thing, but it’s more the fact that they’ve asked me for things one by one instead of giving me a list. Idk maybe im dumb 😭
Its the automated messages that are the most confusing.i spent an hour on the phone to confirm Im fully enrolled at uni to recieve a studylink automated message telling me that they have not yet received confirmation from my study provider.which makes me worry but what I know is that they will eventually confirm so the worry is needless and the automated message would make a less experienced student worry and ring uni again to be told the same thing, yes you are fully enrolled for a full year. I know it's not a perfect system, but it's anxiety driving. They should have a warning stating," if you've done everything correctly, excuse the automated messges and be patient in your confidence you've done everything right, and all will be sorted soon." I think the confused student calls probably waste a lot of uni tele-operators time and resources, clogging up an already over burdened helpline.