The whole route in one place — what you qualify for, what it really costs, the visa, the move. And Sri Lankan postgrads already in New Zealand to ask when you get stuck.
The application is the part everyone talks about. The rest — what you actually qualify for, what the year truly costs, what Immigration NZ wants on file, where you sleep in week one — is where people get stuck. PathFinder covers all seven, and remembers where you got to.
Every current postgraduate qualification NZQA lists, from all 51 providers that teach one — universities, polytechnics and private colleges — with the entry requirements as published, so you can check them against your own transcript.
The money works differently for each
International PhD candidates pay the domestic tuition rate — about NZ$8,500 a year. Doctoral scholarships add NZ$28–33k on top, and most are awarded with admission rather than by separate application. You apply to a supervisor, not to an intake.
Budget NZ$32,000–48,000 a year, plus the living costs the visa requires you to evidence. Scholarships here are competitive and deadline-bound, and usually discount fees rather than pay you. What follows the qualification is an immigration question — INZ publishes the post-study settings, and they change.
PathFinder’s mentors are Sri Lankan postgraduate students in New Zealand right now — a year or two ahead of you, on the same visa, out of the same airport. They have already made the mistakes you are about to.
Ask one question. That’s it.
No directory to search, nobody to cold-email. Write what you’re stuck on and it joins a shared queue; the first mentor free to take it picks it up.
The first 15 minutes are free.
On a call or over WhatsApp, whichever is easier. If you want more after that, you agree the fee with the mentor before it starts — never a surprise on a bill.
They walked this exact route.
The police certificate in Colombo, the eMedical, the bank letter, the first email to a supervisor, renting a flat from 9,000 km away. Mentors are invited and reviewed before they can take a request.
It covers the route, not one step of it.
Assessment, courses, cost, scholarships, documents, the visa checklist, the first weeks after you land — in one place that keeps your progress, instead of eleven browser tabs and a WhatsApp group.
It does the arithmetic you’d rather not.
Tuition, living costs, the visa funds bar, what a scholarship actually covers — worked out for your route, in NZ$ and rupees, with every figure’s source shown. We take no commission from any provider, which is why the cheaper qualification gets mentioned here.
It can’t get you admitted.
No tool can. Admission sits with the university, the visa with Immigration NZ, and figures change without notice. Treat everything here as a starting point to verify — check the source links before you commit money.
Seven questions about your degree, your results and your funding. Under five minutes, and you get a likely route in — direct entry, a postgraduate diploma that bridges the gap, or an honours year first — plus a month-by-month plan built from your answers.
Free · No account needed · Your answers are saved
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