university fees
 

Can any one tell me what the university fees are in New Zealand. My daughter will be 15 and son will be 13 when we come over so any advice re Education and how easy it is for the children to integrate into the system would be gratefully received.

Re: university fees
 

I am so glad you have started this thread my kids will be exactly the same age and I have read that my 15 year old may be disadvantaged for us taking her out of her year 10 GCSE programme and launching her into NZ year 11 in Feb (Oh what wicked parents we are :rolleyes: )

Re: university fees
 

Ditto!!! My eldest daughter is 14 and just starting her GCSE course. Had very nice letter from the school as we've just give an term's notice, apart from the bit about what a challenge and big decision it is considering this critical time in her education! Ooops! Ah well - if you're going to make the move you have to make it sometime. If we didn't do it now and waited for them all to have finished their GCSE's we'd be looking at waiting another 13 years!

Re: university fees
 

Life must surely be better for them there rather than staying in the UK which is just going down the pan.

Re: university fees
 

My 14 year old would disagree!! She's not keen on leaving school and friends etc! But as I keep pointing out (quoting my father!) we don't run a democracy in this house!! The adults are in charge and make the decisions! Not sure I actually believe what I say, but it sounds very impressive!

With regard to university, she's of the opinion at the moment that she'll probably return to the UK for Uni. Maybe she will, maybe she won't, by then it's her decision! But for the next 4 years - her arse is mine!

Re: university fees
 

We arrived in January with a 15yr old and a 13yr old like yourselves. The first term starts in February. The 15yr old was in year 10 in the uk and I had the choice to either put him into the start of yr 10 which meant he had a 4 month start on the other kids or put him into year 11 where he would be nearly a year behind, so we chose yr 10 and he is doing fine, im glad that i didnt push him. The other one started year nine just ahead again of the other kids, but all the kids start secondary education here in yr 9. They both settled in fine and have made lots of friends.

Re: university fees
 

I just want to GET A MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Job waiting wont someone PLEASE buy my house!!!!! then my daughter (15 on Christmas eve! ) can get into school life in Blenheim!! :)

Re: university fees
 

That's good to hear - it's always one of the top concerns is how are the kids going to adjust and settle? You hear differing experiences on this site - so a positive one is good.

Re: university fees
 

:D a parent after my own heart

Re: university fees
 

Read chapter of "How to kill your husband and get away with it" last night - but I digress ... in my much worn emigration bible it turns out that if you are in NZ on a work to residency visa your kids will be treated as visitors when it comes to Uni. I.E: charges will apply. They'll be classed as an International Student around $12,000 for a 32 week polytechnic course. For Uni ... more! For 2 kids at Uni level under those terms realistically you'd be looking at $40,000. If it's under the work to residency visa you as the parents are under then the kids won't receive any student loans or allowances because they are not considered residents other than for tax. They/You (not sure) need to be permanent residents for 2 years.

I conclude - get Permanent Residency before your 15 year old starts Uni!!

Re: university fees
 

At the time we came out to NZ our kids were 14, 13 and 11. We now have 2 of them at Uni in Dunedin. First year costs were approx $8000 for hall of residence, $4500 course fees and approx $5000 for boozing, party pills, extra food cause the hall food was crap, books etc etc. This is per dear child and did not include the cost of getting them to and from Dunedin. Of the total cost of $17500 we fronted up with the hall deposit of approx $3800 - they have borrowed the rest. The second and subsequent years work out cheaper but as they are both doing 4 year degree courses reckon that they will owe the NZ gov approx $50 - $60k by the end.

At least I can rest happy knowing that they are having a bloody good time.

Cheers
Martin

Re: university fees
 

Thank you for this info. My daughter was looking at a course there for when/if we move to NZ next year. The costs look similar to those paid for son at uni in Sheffield now. We pay for his food, rent and uni fees. He spent the student loan on having a good time, books, visiting friends in other unis- he was so shocked by how much he had spent he worked all over christmas and all this summer holiday to pay it off! By next Friday he'll have a bit left over to start new term and then promises to be careful because he does not want a huge debt in 3 yrs time! Daughter works at Homebase 10hrs a week to whilst doing A levels to put money by for Gap yr and uni, (having seen the amount her brother has spent!)
He was working in a school in Dundedin for his gap yr and often went out with the local students from Otago Uni- I can see daughter will enjoy life there too!

Re: university fees
 

Worth mentioning that should your daughter return to the UK for uni, she needs to be deemed a UK resident for 3 years (unsure of exact timeframe, this rings a bell) before starting uni to avoid being classed as an overseas student and hence liable for the ridiculous international student fees. Thus it may not be financially viable, depending on your personal (financial) circumstances. Sorry to write this if you were not already aware.

There have been threads on this before which may also be worth reading.

Re: university fees
 

Hi Martin - do you know approximately how long it would take someone to repay this amount of debt after graduating? Does it need to be repaid within a certain timeframe? I seem to recall that my husband only fully paid his off last year come to think of it - frightening thought. ;)

Re: university fees
 

We were aware of this rule - It's actually the family-tax payer who has to be in country too, this is to stop overseas students who go to boarding school in UK becoming 'resident' status.
BUT having said that we knew of friends in Singapore who managed to get their kids into uk Unis after they'd taken A levels in Singapore as resident not overseas student status.Some Unis or the local authority don't question it. We didn't want to take the risk so came back to uk to live. Not sure how we'll get on if we move to NZ and son is still in last yr of uni here.