Canada Student Loans Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. S-23)

Period — April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2023

Marginal note:Suspension of interest

11.3 During the period that begins on April 1, 2021 and ends on March 31, 2023, no interest is payable by a borrower on a guaranteed student loan.

Death or Disability of Borrower

Marginal note:Death of borrower

• 12 (1) All obligations of a borrower in respect of a guaranteed student loan terminate if the borrower dies, and the Minister shall pay to any lender whose rights against the borrower are terminated under this section the amount of principal and interest determined in the prescribed manner to have been payable by the borrower on the day of the borrower’s death.

• Marginal note:Undisclosed death of borrower

  (2) If the borrower dies and notice of the borrower’s death is not received by the lender within 30 days after the day of death, then, despite subsection (1), the day on which the amount is determined in the prescribed manner to have been payable is a day that is fixed by the Minister in accordance with the regulations.

• Marginal note:Disappearance of borrower

  (3) If a borrower disappears under circumstances that, in the opinion of the Minister, raise a presumption that the borrower is dead, then all the borrower’s obligations in respect of a guaranteed student loan terminate on the day on which the Minister forms that opinion, and the Minister shall pay to any lender whose rights against the borrower are terminated under this subsection the amount of principal and interest determined in the prescribed manner to have been payable by the borrower on a day that is fixed by the Minister in accordance with the regulations.

• Marginal note:Death of borrower before this subsection comes into force

  (4) If, before the day on which this subsection comes into force, a borrower dies or the Minister forms an opinion under paragraph (2)(b) as it read immediately before that day, then all the borrower’s obligations in respect of a guaranteed student loan terminate on that day.

• Marginal note:Date fixed is after this subsection comes into force

  (5) However, if the Minister fixes a day under subsection (2) — as it read immediately before this subsection comes into force — that is later than the day on which this subsection comes into force, then the day that is fixed is the day on which the amount of principal and interest is determined in the prescribed manner to be payable under subsection (2) or (3).

Marginal note:Severe permanent disability

• 13 (1) If the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of prescribed information provided by or on behalf of a borrower, that the borrower, by reason of severe permanent disability, is unable to repay a guaranteed student loan and will never be able to repay it, all rights of any lender against the borrower in respect of that guaranteed student loan terminate, and the Minister shall pay to any lender whose rights against a borrower are terminated under this section the amount of principal and interest determined in the prescribed manner to have been payable by the borrower at the time the borrower provided the Minister with the information required under this section.

• Meaning of severe permanent disability

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations defining the expression severe permanent disability for the purposes of subsection (1).

Certificates of Eligibility

Marginal note:Issue of certificates

• 14 (1) Subject to section 15, the appropriate authority for a province may issue or cause to be issued a certificate of eligibility for a period of studies to a qualifying student whom that authority considers

  • (a) to have attained a satisfactory scholastic standard; and

  • (b) to be in need of a loan for that period of studies.

• Marginal note:Required amount to be specified

  (2) A certificate of eligibility shall contain a statement of the amount of the loan, not exceeding the applicable limit under section 3 for the relevant period of studies, that, in the opinion of the appropriate authority issuing the certificate or causing it to be issued, is needed to enable the qualifying full-time or part-time student to pursue, for that period, a program of studies, or part thereof, at a post-secondary school level at the educational institution specified in the certificate.

Marginal note:Limitation on aggregate amount

• 15 (1) The appropriate authority for a province shall not issue or cause to be issued any certificate of eligibility in a loan year if, as a result thereof, the aggregate of the amounts set out in the certificates of eligibility issued or caused to be issued by that authority in that loan year would exceed the aggregate of

  • (a) the provincial allocation for that province for that loan year, and

  • (b) the supplementary allocation, if any, for that province for that loan year, determined by the Minister pursuant to subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Calculation of provincial allocation

  (2) The provincial allocation for a province for a loan year is an amount, as determined by the Minister after consultation with the Chief Statistician of Canada, equal to the aggregate of

  • (a) the product obtained by multiplying ninety-five per cent of the basic loan provision for that loan year by a fraction of which

    • (i) the numerator is the estimated number of persons in that province that, on the first day of that loan year, have attained eighteen years of age and have not attained twenty-five years of age, and

    • (ii) the denominator is the estimated number of persons in Canada, on the first day of that loan year, of the same age group, and

  • (b) the product obtained by multiplying five per cent of the basic loan provision for that loan year by a fraction of which

    • (i) the numerator is the estimated number of persons who were enrolled as part-time students for a period of studies in that province in the previous loan year, and

    • (ii) the denominator is the estimated number of persons who were enrolled as part-time students for a period of studies in Canada in the previous loan year.

• Marginal note:Calculation of loan provision

  (3) The basic loan provision for any loan year is an amount, as determined by the Minister after consultation with the Chief Statistician of Canada, equal to the product obtained by multiplying

  • (a) five hundred and thirty million dollars

    by

  • (b) the quotient obtained by dividing the estimated number of persons in Canada that will be enrolled as full-time students in programs of studies at a post-secondary school level in that loan year by the number of persons in Canada that were enrolled as full-time students in programs of studies at a post-secondary school level in the loan year commencing in 1983

    by

  • (c) the multiplier, if any, by which the amount set out in paragraph 3(1)(a) is adjusted for that loan year in accordance with subsection 3(2).

• Marginal note:Calculation of supplementary allocation

  (4) The Minister may, on application therefor by the government of a province, determine a supplementary allocation for that province for any loan year in an amount not exceeding

  • (a) thirty per cent of the basic loan provision for that loan year, as determined pursuant to subsection (3),

  minus

  • (b) the aggregate of all other supplementary allocations for provinces for that loan year, determined by the Minister pursuant to this subsection.

Alternative Payments

Marginal note:Alternative payment

• 16 (1) Where the government of a province has, at least twelve months before the commencement of a loan year, informed the Minister in writing that a provincial student loan plan will be in operation in that province in that loan year and that no appropriate authority for that province will be designated for that loan year for the purposes of this Act, the Minister shall pay to the province, not later than six months after the end of that loan year, an alternative amount calculated as provided in this section.

• Marginal note:Calculation of payment

  (2) An alternative amount for a province for a loan year beginning before August 1, 1991 is the amount, as determined by the Minister after consultation with the Chief Statistician of Canada, obtained by

  • (a) multiplying

    • (i) subject to subsection (3), the aggregate of all amounts paid by the Minister in that loan year to lenders under sections 6, 7 and 8, paragraph 10(b), as that paragraph read from time to time before April 1, 2023, and sections 12 and 13, and to collection agencies, in respect of guaranteed student loans made on the basis of certificates of eligibility issued or caused to be issued by the appropriate authorities for participating provinces that issued or caused to be issued such certificates in that loan year, minus all amounts collected by or on behalf of His Majesty in that loan year in respect of those loans,

    by

    • (ii) the quotient obtained by dividing

      • (A) the estimated number of persons in that province that, on the first day of that loan year, have attained eighteen years of age and have not attained twenty-five years of age,

      by

      • (B) the estimated number of persons, in provinces the appropriate authorities for which issued or caused to be issued certificates of eligibility in that loan year, that, on the first day of that loan year, have attained eighteen years of age and have not attained twenty-five years of age; and

  • (b) subtracting from the product obtained under paragraph (a) the result obtained when that product is multiplied by the quotient obtained by dividing

    • (i) the total amount of guaranteed student loans authorized by that province in the preceding three years

    by

    • (ii) the total amount of guaranteed student loans authorized by all participating provinces in the same period.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) The amounts described in subparagraph (2)(a)(i) that were paid or collected in respect of a loan made to a part-time student or that were paid under paragraph 10(b), as it read from time to time before April 1, 2023, shall be included in the calculation set out in subparagraph (2)(a)(i) only if the government of the province satisfies the Minister that the provincial student loan plan includes provisions having substantially the same effect as the provisions of this Act relating to loans to part-time students or to the granting of special interest-free periods to borrowers respectively.

• Marginal note:Calculation of payment

  (4) An alternative amount for a province for a loan year beginning on or after August 1, 1991 (in this subsection referred to as the “current loan year”) is the amount, as determined by the Minister after consultation with the Chief Statistician of Canada, obtained by

  • (a) multiplying

    • (i) the net per capita costs for participating provinces for the loan year beginning on August 1, 1990

    by

    • (ii) the product obtained by multiplying the estimated number of persons in that province who, on the first day of the current loan year, have attained eighteen years of age and have not attained twenty-five years of age by the escalator determined under subsection (5) for each loan year in the period beginning on August 1, 1991 and ending on July 31 of the current loan year; and

  • (b) subtracting from the product obtained under paragraph (a), the net costs for that province for the current loan year.

• Marginal note:Escalator

  (5) For the purposes of subparagraph (4)(a)(ii),

  • (a) subject to paragraph (b), the escalator for a loan year is a fraction of which

    • (i) the numerator is the net per capita costs for participating provinces for that loan year, and

    • (ii) the denominator is the net per capita costs for participating provinces for the previous loan year; and

  • (b) the escalator for the first loan year in which a provincial student loan plan will be in operation in the province and no appropriate authority for the province will be designated for the purposes of this Act is a fraction of which

    • (i) the numerator is the net per capita costs for participating provinces for that first loan year, and

    • (ii) the denominator is the net per capita costs for the previous loan year for provinces that are participating provinces in that first loan year.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (6) In this section,

  net costs

  net costs, for a province for a loan year, means, subject to subsection (7), the amount by which

  • (a) the estimated aggregate of all amounts paid by the Minister in that loan year to lenders under sections 6, 7 and 8, paragraph 10(b), as that paragraph read from time to time before April 1, 2023, and sections 12 and 13, and to collection agencies, in respect of guaranteed student loans made on the basis of certificates of eligibility issued or caused to be issued in any loan year by the appropriate authority for that province

  exceeds

  • (b) the estimated aggregate of all amounts received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in that loan year, including any amount received pursuant to the Financial Administration Act, in respect of the loans referred to in paragraph (a); (coûts nets)

  net per capita costs

  net per capita costs, for participating provinces for a loan year, means the fraction of which

  • (a) the numerator is the amount by which the total program net costs for that loan year exceeds the aggregate of the net costs for that loan year for all provinces that are not participating provinces in that loan year, and

  • (b) the denominator is the estimated number of persons in the participating provinces who, on the first day of the loan year, have attained eighteen years of age and have not attained twenty-five years of age; (coûts nets par tête)

  total program net costs

  total program net costs, for a loan year, means the amount by which

  • (a) the aggregate of all amounts paid by the Minister in that loan year to lenders under sections 6, 7 and 8, paragraph 10(b), as that paragraph read from time to time before April 1, 2023, and sections 12 and 13, and to collection agencies, in respect of guaranteed student loans made on the basis of certificates of eligibility issued or caused to be issued in any loan year by the appropriate authorities for participating provinces

  exceeds

  • (b) the aggregate of all amounts received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in that loan year, including any amount received pursuant to the Financial Administration Act, in respect of the loans referred to in paragraph (a). (coûts nets totaux du programme)

• Marginal note:Exception

  (7) The amounts described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition net costs in subsection (6) that were paid or received in respect of a loan made to a part-time student or that were paid under paragraph 10(b), as it read from time to time before April 1, 2023, shall be included in the calculation described in that definition only if the government of the province satisfies the Minister that the provincial student loan plan includes provisions having substantially the same effect as the provisions of this Act relating to loans to part-time students or to the granting of special interest-free periods to borrowers respectively.