When someone with a student loan travels overseas for more than 6 months, they are charged interest. Your charity or non-profit can get approval so that people who volunteer for you overseas can apply to keep their student loans interest-free.
To apply for this, the work they do must be:
- as a volunteer, or for token payment
- for no more than 24 months.
Their work must do one of the following.
- Relieve poverty, hunger, sickness, or the impacts of war or natural disaster.
- Improve the economy or raise educational standards in a country that’s on the OECD list of countries receiving development assistance.
Volunteering overseas when I have a student loan
Working for a charity overseas when you have a student loan
Approved charities
We keep a list of approved charities whose overseas volunteers can apply to keep their loans interest-free. If you want to be added to this list, you must:
- have been established for charitable purposes
- be carrying out charitable activities.
Last updated:
15 Nov 2022