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Cost of Living in New Zealand with Earnings and Spending figures

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Income and Expenses

Being a student in New Zealand, you can surely work at as part-time employee which can easily help you out in the basic living expenditures.

Popular part time jobs

Attendant in supermarket.
Attendant in small restaurants.
Opportunities to work in the campus library, computer lab etc.
Door-to-door marketing opportunities.
Call center jobs.

Living Expenses

Part-Time Work Rights

The students here will only be allowed to work for up to 20 hours at the time of their ongoing semester excluding the vacation period, which can allow them to work as a full-time employee.

Full-Time Work Rights

You can work for full-time whenever you get a break from the ongoing semester or the academic year. An academic year means a programme of study of a minimum of 120 credits during a period of at least eight months that is a minimum of two semesters. The breaks depend upon the holidays that a college gives e.g. winter holidays, Christmas holidays, etc.

If your full-time programme of study has a duration of at least eight months, and is a minimum of two semesters, but is less than 120 credits, you can work full-time over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. You do not have to have a job offer.

Minimum Wage Rates

All students on a student visa can work for up to 20 hours a week during semester and full time during vacations. The minimum wage rate in New Zealand is NZ $14.75 per hour (before taxes) for workers aged over 16. The taxes however can be reclaimed at the end of each financial year through lodging tax returns (values are subject to change in future).

Tuition Fees

The tuition fees are different for different universities and colleges, and vary with courses. We have listed a few courses with the approximate range of annual tuition fees.

Undergraduate Courses

Arts NZ $10,000 – $12,000 per year
Business NZ $12,500 – $15,000 per year
Science NZ $12,500 – $18,000 per year

Post-graduate Courses

Arts NZ $14,000 – $16,000 per year
Business NZ $18,000 – $24,000 per year
Science NZ $18,000 – $24,500 per year

Living Expenses

The approximate annual living expenses on top of the tuition fees are about NZ $ 12,000 – 15,000, which includes transportation, accommodation, grocery as well as other daily expenses.

However, the expenses are different for different people depending on the lifestyles and this is just a rough idea.

New Zealand has the lowest cost of living among most developed countries.

(Values mentioned above are as per the latest criteria and are subject to change in the near future.)