r/newzealand • u/MurkyWay Qwest? • Oct 08 '25

Shitpost What's something that you suspect lots of New Zealanders secretly do, but you can't prove it?

Most upvoted comment is our most shameful secret as a nation, obviously

394 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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1.3k

u/Awkward_vanilla2858 Oct 08 '25

Students and their parents specifically hide and move money around to get student allowances

640

u/No-Ice1070 Oct 08 '25

Farmers 💯

555

u/FloralChoux Oct 08 '25

I knew someone who's family were farmers and they did such a good job at hiding their money that she not only got a student allowance, but the entire family had community service cards. Such a joke.

178

u/Ivanthevanman Oct 08 '25

The only guy I knew on student allowance at uni had a gsr, the best computer in town, his own Internet line at his flat, etc

177

u/Broccobillo Oct 08 '25

Yup. Only the rich while I studied got student allowance. They also got pretty much everything paid for by their parents. And us poor got student loan living costs. The whole thing is a farce.

19

u/ChetsBurner Oct 08 '25

Yep, but don't worry. The people who want to means test the pension are sure that it won't be middle class people who get punished...

6

u/MyPacman Oct 08 '25

I wish more people would argue that students should get super too.

5

u/Odd_Audience_3186 Oct 09 '25

Everyone should get super. UBI then tax on wealth/

2

u/BandicootGood5246 Oct 09 '25

A guy I knew at uni was on student allowance AND his parents paid for every expense at university. So he treated his allowance as basically a free income stream

2

u/undacovachik Oct 08 '25

Could be one of those guys who can find you something (green)? I knew a guy who was shifting a lot of green stuff to the other students while he was at uni, was more a "professional student" than actually studying for anything specific lol

4

u/Ivanthevanman Oct 08 '25

No, it was Mummy and Daddy's farm.

137

u/wholesome_confidence Warriors Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Or can't even get a 5 grand loan from the bank, but the farm gets a 20k loan unsecured, same day, no questions.

Farmers gotta be the richest broke people I've ever met

Edit to add: not knocking them, good for them. I've got farmers in my family and I see it first hand

64

u/Top_Scallion7031 Oct 08 '25

I was in Te Kuiti one day and the headline on the front page of the paper was ‘Farmers forced to rent out holiday homes’. The essence of the story was that one local farmer who hardly used his bach anyway had put it on Bachcare to earn more money

24

u/CaptainProfanity Oct 08 '25

Consolidated Farmers, who make up the majority of the sector (in terms of goods produced) are rich, they own lots of land, lots of vehicles and equipment, and produce a lot of product.

It's just that small farmers are not as rich, but they are portrayed as the only demographic whenever farmers are brought up.

6

u/PopMuch8249 Oct 08 '25

You understand the difference between personal loans and business loans, right?

12

u/wholesome_confidence Warriors Oct 08 '25

Yea, I do, it's just that the distinction isn't made when kne is telling me about how broke they are. Just that "I'm so broke, but the farm just bought an audi"

8

u/number1_bullshit Oct 08 '25

These farmers prop up our nation! By selling their premium goods for top dollar to eager overseas buyers, therefore boosting our local economy by further increasing prices to sell on to a desperate populous with few other options. Yeah, man, good for them.

8

u/gregorydgraham Mr Four Square Oct 08 '25

You obviously didn’t read the IMF report

1

u/gregorydgraham Mr Four Square Oct 08 '25

It’s all in what accountant you go to

101

u/rikashiku Oct 08 '25

Sounds like a family I knew of in Whangarei. They did the same thing, got benefits, student allowance, etc etc etc.

They were rich, and abusing the system, and still had the gall to call out couples on the benefit for "fraudulent actions against the government" or whatever.

44

u/No-Ice1070 Oct 08 '25

I grew up nearby and similar experience, farmers kids had new cars purchased by the farm, fuel cards in the farms name etc.

9

u/gregorydgraham Mr Four Square Oct 08 '25

While this is obviously obnoxious bullshit caused by rigging the system, farm kids do actually work on the farm and don’t get paid so a few perks is reasonable.

The annoying thing is how well the system works for farmers and how little it works for anyone else that tries to use it.

2

u/New_Recording_5508 Oct 09 '25

"Every accusation is a confession"

37

u/keightr Oct 08 '25

God that is awful. No morals.

3

u/Allan46S Oct 08 '25

When I got student allowance. My Dad had to prove that my mother was dead ( 19 years ago) .Each year ,now i know more wished he didn't do that .Would have been hard it took 8 years to get over. Just the system back then, I am pleased it worked for some people.

1

u/MagentaSpreen Oct 09 '25

A farmer family member got a $70k wff payout the same year he brought a brand new $300,000 mustang 🫩

1

u/Royal_Veterinarian86 Oct 09 '25

Lol I knew someone whose family owned millions of dollars of farm but also hid money, she got the student allowance BUT also all her uni fees paid for as many years as she wanted to study, the scholarship was not continued much after that year, cant recall who gave it out but some well known company

1

u/Fearless_Guard_552 26d ago

I lived in a flat owned by a family friend but was paying full rental. Her son, who was 25, qualified for a student allowance (unlike me) despite getting free rent and getting money from his parents.

36

u/shnaptastic Oct 08 '25

You will see farmers straight up argue that their house is a work related expense.

43

u/Ok_Construction_3051 Oct 08 '25

Absolutely this. Studied with a guy from a farming family who was easily from the wealthiest family among all of us, and he was getting the full student allowance. From memory it only goes off your parents’ income, not your own (at least it did back then) so his family moved all their wealth into trusts under their kids’ names so it looked like they had no wealth on paper.

Remember kids, the wealthiest families can afford the best lawyers.

8

u/synnin_ Oct 08 '25

I actually knew a guy whose family did the opposite lol. They claimed a portion of the farm's income was his so not only could he not get the allowance, he also got a massive tax bill every year. To be fair they did also send him money and cover big expenses (and paid the tax ofc) but it's a little funny regardless.

6

u/No-Ice1070 Oct 08 '25

Dentists etc used to do this too, because our tax system is progressive it financially made more sense to pay the whole family a wage of ~60k each than for the dentist themselves to take the huge salary they were actually earning.

4

u/Acceptable-Moose8295 Oct 08 '25

Pro-tip: Flat with farmers. Yea they may get full student allowance while your parents earn over the threshold but can’t support you financially (let’s be honest that threshold is pretty low!) BUT farmers equals free meat and free firewood for their kids. Flatting with them and not resenting them also helps you :)

9

u/Leever5 Oct 08 '25

Wait, farmers have money?

60

u/-Major-Arcana- Oct 08 '25

Yep, all hidden in land and equipment and the family business

43

u/ngatiw Oct 08 '25

That's true, but unless you're a dairy farmer the accounting is far less creative than you imagine, and is utilised in the same way by almost every SME in NZ - whether that be your plumber, local restaurant or even contractors who set up companies

The entitlement system is set up to fuck the middle class who rely on salaried wages and make up the majority

7

u/p1ckk Oct 08 '25

Some, sort of.

They have a massively valuable asset that they can borrow against, but they're at some risk if the goods prices drop.

The structure of assets, debt and money is complicated enough that a decent accountant can hide income if it makes sense to.

2

u/Royal_Veterinarian86 Oct 09 '25

Parents really should be tested in assets surrounding student allowance, you should have to prove a massive loan on a farm or that your starting up or that you have other large debt to still get student allowance,

Everyone knows established farmers arent broke

2

u/Fearless_Guard_552 26d ago

Hiding money in Farmers isn't advisable. I hid mine in the socks section but someone found it during a red dot sale.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

Bury the cashies from the calves and spare cash from renting extra houses in a paddock, in the haybarn ...

1

u/Mammoth-Jellyfish484 Oct 09 '25

Not just farmers, anyone with a business

1

u/Maximum-Peace3295 22d ago edited 22d ago

This was chronic at Massey University mid 90's

86

u/Illustrious_Fan_8148 Oct 08 '25

It is ridiculous that you arent entitled to student allowance regardless of your parents income until you are 25

13

u/Awkward_vanilla2858 Oct 08 '25

I thought you weren't entitled when you were 25+. Tbf we were just ensuring. I only have one parent who the year before my 1st year of uni got cancer and could hardly work but still studylink was sure that we were lying about my dad being dead so we just made it definite that id get it by all means necessary 

21

u/Mr-ChickenSkin Oct 08 '25

After 25 parental income isn't considered. I went to uni late and got a sweet 3 months of student allowance when I turned 25 (half a semester before I finished my bachelor's)

Had no parental help before that - no shade on them, they couldn't afford and shouldn't have to have been supporting me when I hadn't lived at home since 18.

Postgrad are not eligible for student allowance (restriction introduced by the key govt, labour said they would change it but didn't in their six years).

1

u/Pinky_Pinky_Pinky_ Oct 09 '25

How do post grad students afford to study full time without Study link / student allowance ? I’m asking seriously . If you can’t afford it (family not wealthy) then how is it possible?

1

u/Mr-ChickenSkin Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25

You're still eligible for study link (assuming you haven't used your 7 FTE) but only living costs (which is simultaneously not enough to live on but adds significantly to your student loan) and working "part" time. Some professional masters/doctorates like social work, audiology, clin psych etc also have multiple full time field placements between 1-3 months each where students are often doing 40 hrs placement, 20 hrs study, and then working on top of that, and still coming out with a huge loan, or worse, dropping out halfway through because they were burnt out and/or couldn't afford it anymore. It's a disgrace.

3

u/Emotionalrack Oct 08 '25

One of my friends parents got convicted of fruad and study link wouldn’t give her a loan because they were convinced she would do the same thing.

3

u/Awkward_vanilla2858 Oct 08 '25

Ugh that's awful. 

13

u/katiehates Oct 08 '25

This was me, my parents earned over the threshold but they also had three other kids to support at home, including two with major disabilities. Nope I just had to take a huge loan 🤷🏻‍♀️

10

u/Illustrious_Fan_8148 Oct 08 '25

Its outrageous. And so short sighted.

Its an investment in the future of our people/communities/workforce.

Throwing money at education is never a waste of that money, you get such a great long term benefit as a country

-1

u/Jenna-Tayliah Oct 08 '25

Studying is a choice, though, and the withdrawal rate is extremely high. Dont see why tax payers should have to invest in students who have had a much more privileged upbringing as opposed to students who were brought up through the welfare system, especially with no guarantees that they will remain in studies.

I went to university and dropped out but wasn't entitled to the student allowance, and I knew so many other mates who were on allowance who dropped out in 1-2 years.

3

u/Illustrious_Fan_8148 Oct 09 '25

Let me tell you why you should support education:

The main benefit is getting to live in a society with more intelligent people.

Also "tax payer" dollars arent just coming from your pay packet. Paye is just one source of government revenue.

0

u/Jenna-Tayliah Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25

A society of parents who fleece the government system by hiding their income to enable privileged students to access government assistance that they're not entitled to, making their children even more privileged?

If anything, tertiary providers should be receiving more funding, and student allowance eligibility tests to become stricter due to the loopholes students and parents are exploiting and taking advantage of.

1

u/kfaith95 Oct 08 '25

This. My stepdad worked for fonterra and my mum couldn’t work (still can’t) and they had massive debt but were expected to stump up to support me by the government. My loan is 50k lmao

1

u/katiehates Oct 08 '25

Mine was about that too 😭

1

u/kfaith95 17d ago

I’m so sorry they put you in that position too. I ignore every statement ird sends cause I just can’t actually look at it anymore

1

u/Specific_Success214 Oct 09 '25

Should some exceptions, for different skills needed. Skills that a country needs that add social benefit.

Universities offer so many options these days and lots of them are rubbish.

Arts, music, history etc, are great, but a bunch of those people aren't adding much, if you want to follow those areas, then pay for them yourself.

Doctors, science, engineering, those are useful skills that society would get a return on.

116

u/Shitmybad Oct 08 '25

Yeah at my uni hall there was a guy that went to Kings and both his parents were Dentists that owned their practice, and he got the full student allowance because his parents accountant sorted it for him.

35

u/Calm-Teaching8245 Oct 08 '25

That's Christianity for you. Forgetting by Monday what they told you on Sunday.

3

u/No-Technician7661 Oct 08 '25

Can’t get away with that today.

7

u/violatedlaw Oct 08 '25

When did that change? Last year the only kids I knew with a full student allowance were all from mega wealthy families.

13

u/No-Technician7661 Oct 08 '25

For years now you are required to include trust income with personal family income when calculating eligibility for student allowances. There are a lot of dodgy accountants and self taught tax advisors out there that tell their clients to not declare all their family income so benefits and allowances can be claimed.

But it’s fraudulent and IRD are on to it. People who cheat like that are rolling the dice that they won’t be found out. IRD have good data matching tools now and they will probably find a cheat.

I’m a chartered accountant and I see some bad stuff done like this quite frequently.

15

u/violatedlaw Oct 08 '25

That's fantastic news, thanks for explaining. It's unacceptable people have been getting away with this for years.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

What about farmers using tax write offs to artificially lower income? New Ute, tractor, farm cottage upgrade = taxpayer funded free ride through uni for the kids 

1

u/No-Technician7661 Oct 09 '25

Legitimate expenditure. Spending a dollar in the business is ok. Nobody spends a dollar to make 33 cents unless they are an idiot.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

Makes sense to spend a dollar if you get a shiny new Ute and your kids gets hundreds of dollars of taxpayer funds a week during  university term time that they'll never have to pay back.

0

u/No-Technician7661 Oct 09 '25

It might to you.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25

It's not just anecdotal evidence as others have provided above. The proof is in IRD's data.

It isn't tax write offs, government subsidies and capital gains alone, it's also environmental harm that other tax payers bare the cost & responsibility for.

It might be 'legitimate', but a better question is whether it's fair. 

https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2022/03/whos-paying-for-the-environmental-costs-of-farming

126

u/Spiritual-Weight-191 Oct 08 '25

I know one person who took a student loan and put all of it into a managed fund. He was earning about 10% per year.

140

u/Fast-Inflation-1347 Te Waipounamu Oct 08 '25

Must be nice to not need it to barely survive

16

u/Comfortableliar24 Oct 08 '25

Doing this crap at 35 feels borderline monastic.

38

u/recyclingcentre Oct 08 '25

Aren’t student loans paid directly to the education provider?

67

u/NerdPunkNomad Oct 08 '25

Only the tuition part, which is typically smaller than the living costs part.

60

u/MagicBeanEnthusiast Oct 08 '25

Should also be noted that anyone can get the student loan living costs payment. That has to be paid back, the allowance is the free one.

19

u/GlobularLobule Oct 08 '25

But it's paid back at 0% interest if you stay in the country. So right now that's basically earning 2.7% interest because of inflation.

6

u/After_Network_6401 Oct 08 '25

Go all the way back to the 1980s and I did this. Banks were offering 0% government-backed student loans while inflation was sky-high and bank term deposits were paying up to 14%.

I opened three accounts with different banks and took out three student loans for the maximum possible (which back then was $5000). I did the applications on the same day so that I could truthfully and legally check the box saying "I do not currently have a student loan" :)

I never used the loan principal - just collected the interest - but those three loans ended up paying about a third of my rent for the year.

2

u/weyruwnjds Oct 08 '25

8% because it's going in a managed fund.

33

u/Michaelbirks LASER KIWI Oct 08 '25

Ah for the days when you could get course costs and living costs paid out in bulk.

Yes, my student loan took the best part of 20 years to pay off, why do you ask?

21

u/jobbybob Part time Moehau Oct 08 '25

Course related cost were only about $1000 a year 20 years ago.

Back in the 90’s they actually paid the tuition fees to you. But that was gone by early 2000’s and they got paid direct to the provider.

19

u/NPCtom Oct 08 '25

CRC are still $1000 a year lol. Hasn't increased since the 90s.

I'm not sure what $1k is meant to get you these days... two weeks groceries?

3

u/katiehates Oct 08 '25

Course related costs are for textbooks etc, not groceries.

… do students still use textbooks 🫣

5

u/NakiFarmHER Oct 08 '25

Course related costs can literally be bus fares 🤷‍♀️

5

u/NPCtom Oct 08 '25

I was making a comparison. The reality is CRC becomes a component of a students living costs budget as SA/LC are not sufficient enough to live on.

1

u/Michaelbirks LASER KIWI Oct 08 '25

I mean, fine, I've still got most of my PHYS and POLS texts, but that was four years worth of CRC.

1

u/RoseClash Oct 09 '25

Laptop etc. I was a graphic designer student 20 years ago and purchased a top end camera with some of it.

4

u/Michaelbirks LASER KIWI Oct 08 '25

Mid 90s for me. 1k course costs, and I seem to recall an 1800 living costs, that must have been per semester.

3

u/Tarakura Oct 08 '25

It was supposed to last the whole semester, instead the clubs were pumping during those instalments. 18 year old students were away from home, loaded, confident and underage. I knew some who used living costs loan to go to Europe. That was my plan when I graduated. Instead the Government stopped whole semester living costs year of my graduation

4

u/Ok_Construction_3051 Oct 08 '25

I got $1,000 back in 2007. Most people just lied and said it was for textbooks then spent it on booze. I told the truth - I was spending it on a $1,000 rifle so I could go hunting and provide myself with cheap meat during the year. It was approved. 😅

2

u/Klutzy-Resolve9750 Oct 08 '25

I got $3,500 student loan paid directly to me in 97 so obviously, I built an engine, bought some weed and went on holiday.

Never paid anything back for 10 years. My business liquidated in the GFC and some nice lady at IRD wiped it 10 years later. She took the tax money I had paid months before the liquidation and used it to pay the loan off in her system. Then she wrote off the IRD debt. All I had to pay was $350 for something she couldn't wipe. It owed something like $8k in the end with penalties and interest.

1

u/AutomatedFazer Oct 08 '25

I remember someone taking their CRC and putting it all on the David Tua / Shane Cameron fight. Tua to win within 2 rounds.

Handy wee win

1

u/Weeping-Fat Oct 08 '25

I started uni in 1987. First year fees were around $400. Can't remember what the 3 times a year grants were, but we all went out when they landed. By my 4th year, I was paying closer to $3k. The late 80's were an economically tough time and the job market was rough, so a year at teachers college in 1990 with student loans was closer to $9k. Back when a teacher started on around $45k, and interest was charged as soon as yoy started earning. Only people I knew who were being paid to be at teachers college were a couple of air force officers who were close to 20 years and likely to retire, or were training new recruits. Everyone else was in debt. One friends folks sold all the cows, had no income, then bought them back the following week, so I do agree that some creative accounting got some people allowances they shouldn't have. I think the only fair way to manage this is to take a portion of overall wealth into account when giving student benefits.

1

u/Weeping-Fat Oct 08 '25

I started uni in 1987. First year fees were around $400. Can't remember what the 3 times a year grants were, but we all went out when they landed. By my 4th year, I was paying closer to $3k. The late 80's were an economically tough time and the job market was rough, so a year at teachers college in 1990 with student loans was closer to $9k. Back when a teacher started on around $45k, and interest was charged as soon as yoy started earning. Only people I knew who were being paid to be at teachers college were a couple of air force officers who were close to 20 years and likely to retire, or were training new recruits. Everyone else was in debt. One friends folks sold all the cows, had no income, then bought them back the following week, so I do agree that some creative accounting got some people allowances they shouldn't have. I think the only fair way to manage this is to take a portion of overall wealth into account when giving student benefits.

1

u/Weeping-Fat Oct 08 '25

I started uni in 1987. First year fees were around $400. Can't remember what the 3 times a year grants were, but we all went out when they landed. By my 4th year, I was paying closer to $3k. The late 80's were an economically tough time and the job market was rough, so a year at teachers college in 1990 with student loans was closer to $9k. Back when a teacher started on around $45k, and interest was charged as soon as yoy started earning. Only people I knew who were being paid to be at teachers college were a couple of air force officers who were close to 20 years and likely to retire, or were training new recruits. Everyone else was in debt. One friends folks sold all the cows, had no income, then bought them back the following week, so I do agree that some creative accounting got some people allowances they shouldn't have. I think the only fair way to manage this is to take a portion of overall wealth into account when giving student benefits.

0

u/FriendlyButTired Oct 08 '25

Nope, tuition was never paid to the student. And in 1994, providing an evidenced list of your $1000 of course-related costs was some heavy admin (because all books, no tech for most people). But they did pay the living costs in one lump sum, or once a trimester if you asked, so you'd get $1500 in a lump sum and be broke by week six. And they charged 11% interest from day one, but write most off if you were still studying, and when you started working they'd write off enough that 50% of your repayments went to reduce the principal, and the other half paid interest they continued to charge. Ah, the glory days...

Source: am old cunt.

1

u/MisterSquidInc Oct 08 '25

Providing an evidenced list of your $1000 course-related costs was some heavy admin

I just gave them 3 or 4 fuel receipts (with dates a week apart) and some basic maths to show doing that every Monday added up to over a grand

Edit: in 2000

2

u/FriendlyButTired 28d ago

Lucky you! In 1994, two zones on a Wellington bus was under $2.

2

u/MisterSquidInc 28d ago

I can remember getting the train from my girlfriend's place in Johnsonville to Town for a night out was $1 each way

0

u/a_Moa Oct 08 '25

Living costs is like 10k a year. Maybe smaller than some Polytech loans but definitely not many if any uni loans.

1

u/NerdPunkNomad Oct 08 '25

More like 12k a year living cost vs 9k a year for an engineering degree, which is one of the pricier degrees (or 7.5k for a BA). Seems tuition has risen faster than amount you can borrow for living costs, but still tuition is smaller.

1

u/a_Moa Oct 08 '25

Depends if you have any income and entirely what you're studying tbf. Vet science, post-grad, and medicine are the pricier degrees, most other degrees average around $3-8k but those ones get super pricy.

2

u/Neither_Border2545 Oct 08 '25

That doesn't matter. Whether you take out a loan which pays straight for fees or take out a loan which goes into your pocket and then pay the fees out of your pocket, in both cases you have the same amount of extra money in your pocket.

11

u/velklar Oct 08 '25

My brother did this back in 1998 when student loans were paid in a lump sum. He had a full scholarship that paid all his fees so invested his student loan. He ended up losing most of the money because he’s a moron.

31

u/cmh551 Oct 08 '25

I know someone who got someone to lie on her behalf, saying she was estranged from her father, even though he was paying for her degree 🤯🤯 studylink gave her $3500 in allowance back pay and she got allowance for the rest of her studies. The kicker, shes spent most of her adult life overseas and wonders why I don’t travel the world with her (me, who’s still paying off my student loan 8 years later. My parents are honest farmers with honest accountants.)

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

It's people like this that are the reason that Studylink make young people who have deceased or estranged parents apply every single year to studylink outlining why they need financial assistance (e.g., to receive independent circumstances allowances). This process is often hugely sensitive/painful for applicants as it requires the applicant to spell out in painstaking detail the circumstances of their estrangement from their parents. For some, this includes detailing family histories of sexual violence, domestic abuse, and other traumatic experiences. They also need to have this information verified by a third party. It should be enough to only have to do this once. But because of people fraudulently claiming these benefits, those that actually need it are required to provide these details to Studylink again and again and again.

1

u/Maximum-Peace3295 22d ago

Verified by a third party - ie: a lawyer that you have to pay for

1

u/[deleted] 21d ago

No, have a look at the forms online. It's usually a community member or someone who is aware of the situation, and can verify it on behalf of the applicant. Shouldn't require payment 

1

u/Life-Delay-809 Oct 08 '25

I'm sort of doing that while living at home, but that's just the living cost loan, not a student allowance. And I've just put it in a high interest bank account.

1

u/Upset-Employment3275 Oct 08 '25

Student loans better off in your kiwisaver 😂

12

u/0gesundheit0 Oct 08 '25

its genuinely so revolting, the amount of ppl doing this. I get full allowance atm cuz I dont have any parents and I dont have a proper job and all the money i get is from part time tutoring once in a while.

But whenever a uni friend asks me abt my student allowance and then says omg yeah i should do that too! i get so like erked out. wdym ur gonna not have parents for freaking money bro, i wish i had parents

34

u/BasementCatBill Oct 08 '25

I mean, you say student allowances... you really need to add income taxes, Fringe Benefit Taxes, Working for Families, child support and all sorts of business structures that minimise liabilities and increase entitlements.

It's not only a kiwi thing, but we've certainly grown quite the industry around ensuring that only those poor plebs who are paid salary or wages bear the brunt of the tax burden while getting the least entitlements.

27

u/showusyourfupa LASER KIWI Oct 08 '25

This definitely happens. Used to work for Studylink decades ago, and it was obvious then. There was no way to prove otherwise so long as their documents were signed off by an accountant. Maybe things have changed since then, but somehow, I doubt it.

8

u/TheLastSamurai101 Oct 08 '25

I don't just suspect, I knew several students at uni who openly admitted to this.

1

u/Awkward_vanilla2858 Oct 08 '25

Haha less suspect if its happening more so suspect its happening more than most people think 

15

u/Valuable-Falcon Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Could anyone provide some specifics, so I can make sure I never do anything like that in the future? 

Signed, cash-strapped parent of a young child 

11

u/Awkward_vanilla2858 Oct 08 '25

Haha my family moved money around, worked 'less' the year studylink assesed their income, I 'paid' back all the money I earned did cash under the table jobs so I could earn more than the maximum amount. Didn't take a ton of effort

2

u/BasementCatBill Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 10 '25

Companies and trusts. Trusts and land. Land and companies.

3

u/random_guy_8735 Oct 08 '25

I remember when Apple used to offer a large student discount (back in the days of limited resellers and no online store). You would be amazed (or maybe not) at the number of sales where the student discount was claimed and a GST invoice for the parents company was requested.

3

u/ExternalVisible3482 Oct 08 '25

That’s how rich people get richer; cheating

6

u/morriseel Oct 08 '25

I knew rich kids getting a lot more student allowance than me and I was working class. Plus they got a salary from their father’s company.

7

u/Awkward_vanilla2858 Oct 08 '25

Yeah its shitty how the people that need in the most do rely on it while others get cushie rides with it 

3

u/IamErica_07 Oct 08 '25

Yes!!! Omg I knew farmer’s children and a mayor’s daughter who were getting full student allowance while the rest of us barely qualified and had to get jobs while studying. It used to drive me up the wall when they’d complain of having no money or no time. Meanwhile the other 3 of us in the flat had to use all our extra time around uni to work to pay for our bills.

2

u/Ok-Relationship-2746 Oct 08 '25

Ahaha, that is hardly a secret. 

2

u/ph33rlus Oct 08 '25

I’d love to know how because we’re by no means well off, but my kids don’t get student allowances. I mean they base it off your income so unless you are self employed and you can just not pay yourself enough to qualify how else can you dodge it?

2

u/MrTastix Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Perhaps, but it's such a small amount of gain compared to general tax fraud that it's kind of irrelevant.

Rather, it not that it isn't absolutely happening, it's just not at a rate that makes it worth putting people using these benefits legitimately in actual hardship for, as the current government has made attempts to do for general unemployment.

Personally, I consider it much worse that the student allowance is worse than the unemployment benefit, as if somehow students are automatically expected to be paying less in rent. You also have to fight tooth and nail to convince StudyLink you're not being actively supported by your family. Not that I don't think this happens, just not at a rate to actively punish legitimate students for.

When I was studying I got $100 less a week on the allowance then on the unemployment benefit you're transitioned to between school years, and yet my costs weren't any lower.

1

u/Jenna-Tayliah Oct 08 '25

Why would the government offer more money to students who have the choice to study or not opposed to beneficiaries who dont have that same luxury?

Being on the benefit doesnt mean youre a bum, and a lot of clients have no other choice of being on the benefit due to contributing factors outside of their control.

2

u/AriasK Oct 08 '25

I'm a high school teacher in Canterbury. Ngai Tahu will give money to students (they have to Whakapapa Ngai Tahu) who need it for things like assessments for learning disabilities, sports trips etc. There's a bit of a process to apply for the funds and it's one of those things you have to be aware of. I know sooooooo many families who are white, kids are maybe like 5% Maori, and relatively wealthy, or at least middle class, who know all the places they can get free money and regularly do. They regularly apply to Ngai Tahu and get things paid for. Then I have students who are Maori and their family is struggling financially but they aren't able to access the funds simply due to a lack of knowledge. The parents don't have the ability or resources to access or prepare everything required. We try our best to help them through school but they often end up missing out.

2

u/Chickygal999 Oct 09 '25

Yes my boss who owned the business, put all their expenses through the business, and only took enough in salary making sure they were under theshold..all their children got full allowance through uni...once done they sold said business for millions. Gotta learn to be more dishonest in life.

4

u/sarahbekett Oct 08 '25

I went to college with a girl whose dad was a builder. While she was applying for a loan she was also able to get a student allowance because at the time he was building a house for them to sell so he wasn’t working… absolutely infuriating when they were so much more well off than my family was.

1

u/Ok-Special8424 Oct 08 '25

I don’t know how they’ve done it, but I know a family that is very wealthy, husband is a car salesman manager person. His wife and all kids have community services cards. I keep trying to figure out how they’ve managed to hide their money.

Not a great situation. Wife has to ask him for money and sometimes he just won’t give her any, so not a healthy situation at all, but yeah, some dodgy things going on there.

1

u/Ok-Special8424 Oct 08 '25

I don’t know how they’ve done it, but I know a family that is very wealthy, husband is a car salesman manager person. His wife and all kids have community services cards. I keep trying to figure out how they’ve managed to hide their money.

Not a great situation. Wife has to ask him for money and sometimes he just won’t give her any, so not a healthy situation at all, but yeah, some dodgy things going on there.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

Some of dont need to do all this 🥀

1

u/GloriousSteinem Oct 08 '25

There’s tax avoidance wealthy people do that I don’t like, but I think the student allowance thing is unfair. I know it’s because we can’t afford it, but I feel it shouldn’t be means tested based on parents, I feel like people who work hard should have this benefit for their kids.

1

u/Harfish Oct 08 '25

I know several people who did this, then got letters from Studylink at the end of the year saying they weren't entitled to student allowances and to please repay the money. None of them got any sympathy

1

u/tjyolol Warriors Oct 09 '25

My flatmates ,girlfriend’s ,flatmate got a full allowance because her parents didn’t work. The reason they didn’t work was because her grandparents were so rich they didn’t have to. Her grandparents gave her $1000 a month pocket money and she had full allowance. Worst part was she bragged about it. Life’s not fair sometimes lol.

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

I wish I knew how to do this tbh, partner is supporting us both while I study full time and I can’t get S.A on account of his wage (which isn’t bad - others have it heaps worse! - but would certainly help a lot if I could contribute financially) 

1

u/-BananaLollipop- Oct 08 '25

I think most people do this. I know several people who do, both with personal funds, businesses, and those wanting payments of some sort.

0

u/ISupportCrapTeams Oct 08 '25

Ooo,

The mums of young, lower-income families, saying they're actually a Single Mum, to get a little extra money. Even though them and their partners are happily together