Saskatchewan to offer assistance for student loan repayment

The Saskatchewan government is giving some students in the province a helping hand.

On Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Student Aid Program and Canada Student Financial Assistance Program are to make changes to the Repayment Assistance Plan that the government says will help “improve affordability of student loan repayment and streamline repayment processes.”

“This needs-based program will continue to support many Saskatchewan students as they transition to their professional lives,” Advanced Education Minister Gordon Wyant said in a media release Monday. “These changes will make student loan repayment more affordable and help improve the quality of life for many of our Saskatchewan student borrowers.”

The changes are expected to help around 4,000 Saskatchewan student borrowers each year by:

• Increasing the zero-payment threshold for single borrowers from $25,000 to $40,000;
• Aligning repayment income thresholds for larger households with the Canada Student Grant income thresholds;
• Adjusting repayment income thresholds annually to account for inflation; and
• Reducing the monthly student loan payment cap from 20 per cent of a borrower’s family income to 10 per cent.

The Repayment Assistance Plan is for low-income borrowers who, if eligible, can qualify for reduced payments or no payments at all. The government says the program helps mitigate student loan defaults and gives financial assistance to the student borrowers who need it the most.

The plan is part of government assistance that will provide more than $102.6 million to more than 20,000 students in the province. Government supports include scholarships, bursaries and grants.

Students also may be eligible for the Graduate Retention Program, which provides up to $20,000 in income tax rebates to those who live and work in Saskatchewan after graduation.

More information about Saskatchewan Student Aid can be found here. More information about the Repayment Assistance Program is available by contacting the National Student Loans Service Centre.