Goodbye student loan.
The Nova Scotia Government recently announced an expansion to the Loan Forgiveness Program.
Now students who graduate after Aug. 1, 2017, and complete their studies in five years or less, can have their entire provincial student loan forgiven.
The government also announced an increase in support from $180 per week of study to $200 in the Student Assistance Program.
Labour and Advanced Education Minister Labi Kousoulis says it’s to help lower income residents, and make post-secondary accessible for everyone.
He hopes the new program will help break the cycle of poverty.
“There’s some students that might go to university for a year or two, think that this isn’t quite for me [and] I’ll drop out,” he says.
“I really like the program because it has that incentive – upon graduation, here’s your bonus, we wipe out your Nova Scotia student loan.”
On average it costs Nova Scotians $27,000 to complete a bachelor of arts undergraduate degree in four years.
This expansion will save student up to an additional $20,400.
Kousoulis says the previous program only covered four years.
“We did recognize, and Students Nova Scotia did advocate, that some undergrad programs are actually four and a half years – especially where there are co-op work-terms involved,” he says.
“We heard their request.”
Students graduating after Aug. 1, 2017, who complete their studies in five years or less are eligible to have their entire provincial student loan eliminated.
Meanwhile,
Aidan McNally, Chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia, says she’s disappointed in the government’s announcement.
She says the closed-door meeting excluded student representatives.
It was held without the Canadian Federation of Students – Nova Scotia, and the Dalhousie Students’ Union, who combined represent the majority of students in the province.
McNally says when discussing the program, it’s important to ensure there are student voices from across the province.
“Not only was it inappropiate to, effectively, be cherry-picking representatives,” she says.
“But it was also disappointing to see that there were actually no new annoucements about student assistance.”
McNally says the announcement was just a re-packaging information from the September 2017 budget.
She says the government is intent on celebrating minimal changes to the program rather than re-investing in a system to support marginalized students.
McNally says the Nova Scotia Loan Forgiveness Program is convoluted and costs a lot to administer.
She says the money doesn’t help students who take longer to graduate, or who don’t graduate at all.
“We know that students who have family responsibilities [like] taking care of sick parents or have children are going to take longer than five years to graduate,” she says.
“Or perhaps students who are working multiple part-time jobs.”
McNally says they need to create a system of accessible post-secondary education here in Nova Scotia.
To listen to the full interview, listen to South Shore Sunday Morning.
