School Fees in New Zealand

School fees in New Zealand is a term referring to monetary payments by parents or guardians to their child's school.

In state and state-integrated schools, "school fees" is most commonly used to describe a request from schools to parents or guardians for a donation (usually annual) to their child's school. Although this payment is entirely voluntary, some school boards use terms such as "Fees", "School Levy" or "Parental Contribution" to coerce payment from parents. The Ministry of Education direction from its 1998-25 Fees Circular to school Boards advises that terms to imply that payment of the sum is compulsory should not be used, particularly "fee" or "levy". Instead, the term "School Donation" is suggested.

State and state-integrated schools can charge Activity Fees for items above and beyond the curriculum, but payment of the donation is voluntary.

In state-integrated schools, there is a compulsory fee called "Attendance Dues". Schools have to report their attendance dues to the Ministry of Education, where any changes to the dues are monitored. Attendance dues are payable for upkeep of the school land and buildings, which unlike in state schools are privately owned by proprietors, such as the Catholic Church in the case of a Catholic school. While school donations are voluntary like in state schools, parents/guardians are contractually and legally required to pay attendance dues, and proprietors can take action against parents or even cancel the enrolment of the child over unpaid attendance dues.

Section 3 of the Education Act 1989 states the following:

"Except as provided in this Act or the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975, every person who is not an international student is entitled to free enrolment and free education at any State school during the period beginning on the person's fifth birthday and ending on 1 January after the person's 19th birthday."

The act defines an international student as anyone who is not a New Zealand citizen or the holder of a New Zealand residence class visa. By virtue of the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement, Australian citizens and residents are automatically awarded a residence class visa on entry into New Zealand, so are not classified as international students. There are additional circumstances in which students are not classified as international students, such as children of refugees and foreign diplomats in New Zealand.

This means as long as the student is a domestic student, parents and/or legal guardians do not have to pay for things such as;

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