The Up Front Investment Tertiary Eduction Policy would include apprenticeships for non-traditional areas such as truck driving which education spokeswoman Tracey Martin said would minimise skill shortages and unemployment rates.
The wider scheme would also provide greater support for small and medium-sized businesses to take on apprentices.
Speaking at the party's annual convention in Dunedin, Ms Martin said there were already documented skill shortages in construction, science, communications and IT which equated to $1 billion of lost tax revenue in the period ending 2025.
It was recognised in the next four years New Zealand would need more workers in accommodation, aged care, the automotive trade, hairdressing, mechanical engineering, plumbing, gasfitting and drainlayers and in retail.
"And I haven't even mentioned the fact Chorus right now is screaming out for high-quality fibre installers."
NZ First recently announced a policy to support employers with the job seekers benefit when taking on an apprentice who would gain an "on the job" qualification.
All upfront investment would be recorded by Inland Revenue through the individual's national student numbers.
The system would use a year-by-year reduction debt base. For every year studied, there would be an expectation of one-year skill exchange, Ms Martin said.
Each year worked in New Zealand would reduce the skill debt by a year.
"There will be a greater use of bonding system models for certain industries for teachers, nurses doctors and police that would accelerate skill debt reduction."
People who left New Zealand for further study or work, and did not return or provide a replacement for their role in say medicine, would be pursued for a dollar debt amount, she said.
The announcement the party would introduce a universal living allowance, not subject to parental means testing, as a priority for all full-time students was greeted by loud applause and cheers by the more than 200 delegates attending the convention in the Dunedin centre.
NZ First said the total cost of its Up Front Investment - to remove the debt burden from young people - was $4.6 billion, or 1.86% of gross domestic product.
