VERIFICATION OF STUDY ONLINE Training for Tertiary Education

VERIFICATION OF STUDY ONLINE Training for Tertiary Education Providers 0800 88 99 00 | www. studylink. govt. nz

THE VERIFICATION OF STUDY PROCESS When a student applies for Student Allowance and/or Student Loan, Study. Link requires their study details as part of confirming their entitlement. To collect this, we send a Verification of Study request (known as a Vo. S request) to the student’s education provider. That education provider can then complete the relevant study details and return the information (known as a Vo. S response) to us, so that we can assess whether the student qualifies. The Vo. S Process Study. Link receives an application for a Student Allowance and/or Student Loan Any required evidence is received; the Student Allowance is Pre-Approved and/or the Student Loan is Post Contract Study. Link sends a Vo. S request to their education provider to confirm study details The education provider replies with a Vo. S response The application is approved or declined based on Vo. S details A Vo. S response should reflect the student’s enrolment, for the period we’re requesting. We need to know their course(s), their start and finish date, the EFTS value of the papers/modules they’re studying, and any vacation periods/semester breaks that go for longer than three weeks. For more information about what a Vo. S response should look like, and what it should contain, refer to your Vo. S Rules and Processes for Education Providers document, or contact the Study. Link Helpline.

VOS ONLINE Vo. S Online (also known as the Online Institution Interface or OII) is a website operated by Study. Link where Vo. S requests are loaded for easy access and completion by education providers. Using this system ensures the information is read correctly and can be processed swiftly, in order for us to confirm an outcome for the student. To use Vo. S Online you will need to submit a Vo. S Online user access form to the Study. Link Helpline, which gives you authorization to confirm enrolment and attendance details on behalf of your provider.

VOS ONLINE › The address for Vo. S Online is vos. studylink. govt. nz At the login screen, enter your allocated User ID and password. The first time you log in, your password will be a temporary one provided by Study. Link. The User ID and password fields are case-sensitive - if they contain uppercase letters, then each time you log in you’ll need to use them. › The first time you login to Vo. S Online, you’ll be required to provide your email address and to nominate your own new password. › Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the login process. If you do forget your password, there is a link on the login page to allow you to reset it, When you’ve clicked on the link you will be emailed a unique HTML link. You will then have 8 hours to activate the link and reset your password. Please contact the Study. Link Help. Line on 0508 885 if you have any problems with the password reset › Once logged in, you’ll be taken to the Home Page. When navigating Vo. S Online, please DO NOT use your browser’s navigation buttons – this can have an adverse affect. Instead, click the links within the site, or use the navigation buttons at the bottom of some pages.

VOS ONLINE HOMEPAGE › Home: Returns you to the homepage › Reference: Holds documents such as the Information Matching Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding and Vo. S guides. › Contact us: Contains instructions on how to contact Study. Link › Help: A basic help guide › Change Details: Lets you change or nominate your password › Logout: Logs you out of Vo. S Online › Vo. S Processing: Here you can view Vo. S requests from Study. Link, and return completed Vo. S responses for them. › Vo. S Reports: Selecting this link will display a list of Vo. S reports that you can view or download. › Blank Vo. S: Using this section, you can initiate a Vo. S response to Study. Link to advise of any changes in a student’s study. You can only use the Blank Vo. S option for those students who have had a Vo. S request from Study. Link loaded to Vo. S Online previously.

VOS RECORDS The Vo. S Processing Screen › Within this screen there can be multiple Vo. S requests waiting to be completed. The system will display the oldest Vo. S records first, with the number of requests indicated at the top of the page. › The Sort and Filter button allows you to customise how the Vo. S requests are displayed (including ordering alphabetically and listing based on values such as surname) so you can find a particular student when there are multiple requests listed.

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS Vo. S Requests Each Vo. S request contains the following read-only details: • The student’s full name and date of birth • The student’s Client Number with Study. Link. • The Vo. S study start date - the date that appears will be one month prior to the date nominated by the student in their application. You need to return any study information starting on or after this date. You cannot return information for study starting prior to this date.

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS Entering Study Information When sending responses, enter the following information: Student ID you have allocated (if any) The student’s status. If the enrolment hasn’t been confirmed, select from: Total fees for the course(s), and the amount requested. These fields will only be visible if the student has a Student Loan they’ve nominated to pay their fees with. • • • Not Known: The student isn’t known to your provider. Unregistered: The student is known to your provider, but not enrolled for the period we are requesting Pending: The student is studying for the period requested but their enrolment is not yet complete Mismatch The student’s name or date of birth is incorrect on the Vo. S record, compared to your provider’s records. Withdrawn: The student has formally withdrawn from the relevant study period Note: If you enter a value into this field, you can leave the other fields in the request blank when submitting the response. The Programme Code for the student’s course. Be sure to include both the alpha and numeric characters (with no spaces in between the characters). Study start and end dates EFTS value for the student’s study period The start and end dates of any breaks during the course that are longer than three weeks

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS Updating Requests At the bottom of each Vo. S record are three buttons, to be used in the following circumstances:

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS Adding Additional Course Details Selecting the Additional Course Details button will cause a duplicate Vo. S request to appear under the current one. It can be used where a student is studying more than one course at your education provider, but a Vo. S request has not been received for each of the courses. The multiple Vo. S requests can then be used to return study information for each separate course.

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS Adding Segments The Segments button is used where a student is studying a course made up of different periods with different EFTS values for each period. You can enter up to four separate Vo. S segments per record. Selecting the Update button transfers the segment info to the record, with Vo. S Online automatically calculating the student’s earliest start, latest end dates and total EFTS.

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS Deleting Requests In most cases there is no need to delete Vo. S records; once the Vo. S has been filled in and submitted to Study. Link, it will no longer show in the system. In cases where Study. Link has sent out multiple Vo. S requests without receiving a response, once one of the records has been returned, the others can be deleted from the system by selecting this button for each of duplicate Vo. S requests. Before deleting records, check if the student is studying more than one course, as that may explain why the additional requests have been sent. Clicking Delete record will bring up a confirmation message box: If you select Ok the website will return you to Vo. S processing page, with the deleted record displaying a black message box underneath. The record will now be read-only and will not appear in Vo. S Online the next time you log in.

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS Submitting Responses › Once you have completed the relevant Vo. S request(s), the next step is to send or Submit the completed Vo. S record(s) to Study. Link. › Click on the Completed box located directly below the relevant record. This tells Vo. S Online that the particular Vo. S record is ready to be submitted. › Once all of the relevant records have been ticked off as completed, you will need to select the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

RESPONDING TO VOS REQUESTS The Checking Process In order to ensure the information received is as accurate as possible, Vo. S Online carries out some basic checking functions. Once you’ve clicked the Submit button, the following messages may appear under each Vo. S record: Submitted Errors Unticked Changes There are no issues with the information, and the record has been submitted to Study. Link There is an error in the information entered into the Vo. S record. The submit button was pressed without a Completed box being ticked. Once you have submitted a Vo. S response for each of the Vo. S requests, a confirmation message will appear and the process is then complete. Submitted Vo. S requests will still be viewable in the Vo. S Processing screen, as read-only, while you’re still logged in. The next time you login, those Vo. S requests will no longer be displayed. You can elect to have an email sent to you when new Vo. S requests have been loaded to Vo. S Online. This option saves you having to continually check for new requests, and can be nominated on the Vo. S Online User Access form.

SENDING A VOS, WITHOUT A REQUEST

SENDING A VOS, WITHOUT A REQUEST Blank Vo. S is the term given to the process where an education provider sends Vo. S details for a student without receiving a Vo. S request from Study. Link. There are only four instances when you should use the Blank Vo. S function to send Study. Link a student’s Vo. S details: › A student who Study. Link has previously sent a Vo. S request for, has withdrawn from their course of study › A student who Study. Link has previously sent a Vo. S request for, has a change in their study details for example, when a student has dropped papers from their course. › Study. Link has specifically asked for one – this could be because our requests are not being received correctly, or waiting for a system-initiated one could put the student into hardship › The Vo. S your system will send does not accurately reflect the student’s actual enrolment, and only a blank Vo. S will do this Blank Vo. S responses are applied to the student's applications automatically, typically within an hour of submittal. However, if the study start date (lower case) does not match on the blank Vo. S does not match that of the previous Vo. S return sent to Study. Link, the Vo. S will not apply. In this case manual intervention will be required, and Study. Link will need to be contacted.

COMPLETING A BLANK VOS Completing a Blank Vo. S Select Blank Vo. S on the Vo. S Online home page. The Blank Vo. S page will display, with the field Student Withdrawn? defaulted to Yes. • If the student has withdrawn from the course, complete all the relevant fields (with the End Date being the date the student withdrew) and then submit the Vo. S. • If this Vo. S is for a student who has not withdrawn, change the Student Withdrawn? field to No. Additional fields will appear, along with a Segments button, for you to provide the updated enrolment details. Complete all the relevant fields. Student Withdrawn? - Yes Student Withdrawn? - No

VOS REPORTS

VOS REPORTS › The Vo. S Reports section lists different reports regarding the progress of your students’ loans and payments. This includes the Status Reports (which show the status of a student’s Student Loan application, if they are using it to pay their fees with your provider), and Payment Schedules (which show fee payments made to your provider). › These reports can be viewed on Vo. S Online, or downloaded as a. CSV file. A Status Report Convertor is available from the Study. Link Helpline to view downloaded files. › Reports are automatically removed from the site after seven days – if you will need these files for reference outside that period, please use the download option to save them to your own system.

REMEMBER › A Vo. S request is Study. Link asking for a student’s enrolment details. The information you provide in return is a Vo. S response. › Keep your User ID and password details safe. › Don’t use your internet browser arrows to navigate – click the links or navigation buttons within the site. › Remember to logout once you have finished. › If you experience any issues or have any queries, contact the Study. Link Helpline on 0508 885.