Additional Financial Resources
Student Loan Consolidation
Student loan repayment can be quite overwhelming. There is help if you take advantage of the resources available to you.
The Canadian Government is committed to ensuring that you have the information and assistance necessary when it comes to repaying your education loans. Once you have completed your education or are no longer enrolled, make sure you take the following steps:
Know How Much to Pay
- If you applied for your loans through your provincial/territorial student assistance office, don’t assume that you only have one loan to repay.
- In some provinces and territories, loans are issued separately by each branch of government, so you may have more than one lender to make payment arrangements with.
- Determine what provinces and territories you received funding from and refer to the appropriate resources.
Know When to Make Your Payments
- Repayment on your student loans will begin for a variety of different reasons
- If you have graduated from your studies
- If you have transferred to part-time study
- If you have stopped attending school
- If you are taking time off from school for more than 6 months
- If you have reached your lifetime limit for financial assistance
- Most government student loan programs allow for a 6 month grace period before your first payment is due
- Interest typically starts accruing immediately though, so if you are able to start making payments immediately, it won’t hurt
- IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CONT ACT YOUR LOAN PROVIDER TO MAKE PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS!!!!
- If you do not contact your lender, they may begin withdrawing funds out of the account where the money was originally deposited.
Lifetime Limits on Financial Assistance
- There are lifetime limits on the financial assistance you are eligible to receive
- Student financial assistance includes the loans borrowed and the interest free status of your loans
- Once you have reached your lifetime limit, your loans will require repayment even if you are still enrolled in school
- here to learn more about lifetime limits
How to Make Payments
- You should be contacted by mail indicating when your loan repayment is to begin
- If you do not receive any notification, be sure to contact your lender within 6 months after discontinuing your studies
- Find out the total amount of your loan(s)
- Find out what your interest rate will be
- Find out the monthly payment, when it will be withdrawn and confirm the account you are going to use
- If you are not getting the payments withdrawn automatically, find out where to send your payments
- Find out the length of time it will take to repay your loan
- Your lender should send you terms of repayment in the mail.
- Make sure you review the terms, sign and return them to the lender
- Keep in mind that even if you do not sign and return the terms, your payments will still be due on the date indicated
- You can always pay more than the minimum due without notifying your lender
If You Can’t Repay
If you feel that you may have trouble repaying your student loans, the last thing you want to do is ignore them. There are resources available to help you take care of your responsibilities. Click here for more information.
