Student advocates are worried a change to the university entrance threshold will disadvantage some students.
The Qualifications Authority is substantially raising the threshold, so that from 2015, it will no longer be possible to get into university without passing NCEA level 3.
The co-president of the Union for Student Associations, David Do, says the change will disadvantage students who do poorly at high school but still want to go to university.
However the Secondary Principal's Association says those who don't pass the new requirements would not succeed at university and would end up wasting taxpayer money.
The Qualifications Authority doubts many students will miss out on UE because of the changes and says most courses in fact require better results than the minimum it sets.