Statistics New Zealand has released the 2008 integrated data on student loans and allowances. This data shows that the number of students borrowing through the student loan scheme, and the amount they owe upon leaving study, have both increased. In 2008, 37.5 percent of all students enrolled borrowed, an increase from 34.7 percent in 2007. This increase occurred while the number of students enrolled decreased 4.8 percent. For students who left study in 2007, their average leaving loan balance was $14,980, up 2.5 percent from $14,620 in 2006.

Meanwhile, students who left study in 2007 received no increase in average income in their first year post-study compared with students who left in 2006 ($30,200 for both 2006 and 2007 leavers). This is the first year since 1998 that no increase has occurred between groups of students leaving study in consecutive years.

The majority of students who borrowed in 2008 were aged 24 years and under (63.1 percent). Students aged 20–24 had the second highest 2007 leaving debt ($19,110), while those aged less than 20 had the lowest average leaving debt ($8,440). Compared with their counterparts in 2006, leavers in 2007 who were aged less than 20, and those who were 20–24, had a decrease in average income one year after leaving study (from $19,870 to $19,550 for leavers aged less than 20 and from $30,140 to $29,870 for leavers aged 20–24).

Borrowers aged 60+ represented 1.5 percent of all borrowers in 2008. The number of students aged 60+ borrowing in a year peaked in 2006 at 3,411, declining to 2,640 by 2008.

Information on the release and statistical tables can be found on the Statistics New Zealand website.

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