It’s Not Just You: StudyLink Phone Waiting Times Triple Over The Last Three Years By Justin Hu (he/him) Still waiting on hold about that student loan? Studylink says that you can blame the housing crisis. The average time that students have spent on hold with Studylink has more than tripled in the last three years, according to figures obtained by Debate, after services changed to meet the demand of more hardship-related calls. The data, obtained under the Official Information Act, show that waiting times on calls have risen from an average of around two minutes in 2018 to just under nine minutes in 2019. This trend continued last year with calls averaging at 11 minutes and 36 seconds; excluding February 2020, March 2020 and August 2020. Callers in March this year waited around 20 minutes while callers in April waited for around 12. Compare this to around eight minutes in April 2019 and two minutes in April 2018.
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The ministry specifically pointed to housing affordability as a driver of increased demand which has led to longer waiting times, in a written response to Debate's original request for information. “As a result of rising housing costs, clients are increasingly in need of the hardship assistance that can be provided over the phone,” the ministry said. The Ministry of Social Development’s general manager of call centre services, Geoff Cook, continued by saying that the rise was a result of rising demand for services and an expansion of what callers could get done over the phone. “We have seen an increase in demand since 2018, both in terms of the numbers of students applying for assistance, as well as the frequency and complexity of information and support being managed by phone." Before the changes, callers would only be able to access support for student loans, allowances and living costs. Following the changes, students are now able to process special needs grants or get help transferring to or from a benefit, according to the ministry.
