Your workload and costs - Otago Polytechnic

Your time commitment and expected additional costs

The academic expectations and the demands of practice placements in this three-year degree will have an impact on your family and personal life.

Before you apply, we recommend that you have a discussion with your whānau/family about how they can support you to succeed in this programme.

The information below should give you a good idea of what to expect when you study this programme.

Study	Time
	3-year programme 96 programme weeks at an average of 35.5 hours per week a minimum of *3600 total programme hours (360 credits): a minimum of 1050 fieldwork hours (105 credits) AND a minimum of 2550 theory hours (255 credits)**
YEAR ONE	Two 16-week semesters and 8 weeks of break There are 2 compulsory fieldwork placements in Year One
YEAR TWO	Two 16-week semesters and 8 weeks of break There is 1 compulsory fieldwork placement in Year Two
YEAR THREE	Two 16-week semesters and 8 weeks of break There are 2 compulsory fieldwork placements in Year Three

Placements last from 4 to 14 weeks. Travel and accommodation will be extra costs on top of your course fees.


YEAR ONE
Noho marae	All students are required to attend a noho marae at the beginning of the year.	Costs may involve transportation and food.
Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Placements	Year One students may need to travel for specific Occupational Therapy fieldwork placements. Your Fieldwork 1 placement could be anywhere in New Zealand.	Extra costs of travel, accommodation and child care.

YEAR TWO
Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Placements	All students will need to leave their home location from time to time to access appropriate experience.	Extra costs of travel, accommodation and child care.
YEAR THREE
Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Placements	Year Three students will need to travel for specific practice placements.	Please plan for travel and accommodation costs of these placements. Main centre placements are contestable and students who live in main centres will be required to leave for at least one placement.

All costs are approximate and based on information available at the time of publication.

Immunisations DHB requirement	up to $300 (depending on provider)
Uniform Occupational Therapy, Otago Polytechnic top	approx. $50
Laptop or Personal Computer Computers can be PC or Mac, but must be internet ready. Microsoft Office applications are available to Otago Polytechnic students.
Cellphone & WiFi
Car and Driver’s Licence This will increase your fieldwork placement options.
Textbooks All required texts will be available from the polytechnic library, but you may wish to purchase some main textbooks.	approx. $700