Maintaining Interest-Free Status and Repaying Your Loan

Interest-Free Status:

• If returning to full-time studies and not taking out another student loan, students must notify National Student Loan Service Centre and Manitoba Student Aid that he/she is currently in full-time studies.
• The Schedule 2 for Canadian loans and Continuation/Reinstatement of Interest Free Status form for Manitoba loans may be obtained obtained from and are filled out by the Student Access Centre on the 1st floor of the Administration Building. The Continuation/Reinstatement of Interest Free Status form can also be printed off here and must be processed by the end of October.
• These forms can only be filled out for students who are currently in full-time classes.
• Completed forms must be mailed or faxed to the appropriate lenders.
• If students had student loans before August 1, 2001, and currently taking taking out student loans, a Copy 22A from the Loan Agreement must be sent to the lenders from the pre-August 1, 2001, loans. For Manitoba loans, this may have been the Royal Bank.
• Call the lenders after two weeks to ensure that they received confirmation of enrollment.
• Failure to notify the lenders of full-time status may result in the loans entering repayment.

Loan Repayment:

• All students have a 6 month “grace period” upon conclusion of their studies, whether they have graduated or not, in which to find work and make arrangements with their lending institutions for repayment. During this six-month period both Manitoba and Canada Student Loans accrue interest.
• As soon as students complete their schooling, they should contact the loan provider to arrange a loan repayment schedule (i.e.: the full amount of the loan, how much interest it will accrue, what the monthly payments will be…). Not repaying student loans on time can prove very problematic. If students neglect their payments of do not contact loan providers for months at a time, loan may go into default. This may result in the students being contacted by a debt collection agency, their credit may be affected and they may not be able to receive loan funding in the future.

There are several options open to students if they have little or no income and are having problems with repayment.

Interest Relief

• Interest Relief is available for both provincial and federal loans and students are eligible if they are unable to repay due to low income.
• Interest Relief is additional periods of three to six months where the government pays the interest on the loan so students do not have to make payments on the interest or principal until they can afford to do so.
• Students may receive Interest Relief for a maximum of 54 months.

Debt Reduction

• Debt reduction is available on Manitoba and Canada Student Loans after students exhaust all Interest Relief.
• If students are approved, the maximum amount federal debt reduction will be $10,000, or 50% of the principal of your loan, whichever is less. The maximum amount of provincial debt reduction will be 50% of the principal of the loan, or $6,667, whichever is less. Contact www.canlearn.com for more information.
• For Manitoba contact 1-800-204-1685 for more information.