Will Canada mimic U.S. government's student loan forgiveness program?
Recent graduates trapped under a mountain of student loan debt and worrying about interest rates rising in the future may wish they lived across the border.
Under certain circumstances, the U.S. government will forgive the remainder of your federal student loan debt if you work in the public sector or for a registered nonprofit for 10 years and make your payments on time.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is open to indebted students who become police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians or public school teachers, for instance.
And they're still not satisfied. Those who haven’t paid off their student loans overwhelmingly want those loans forgiven by their lenders, according to a recent survey released by online research firm, Instant.ly.
In this country, however, you're expected to pay it all back -- unless you're in the medical profession, that is.
Starting April 1, some doctors and nurses will be eligible to apply for partial student loan forgiveness, providing they're willing to relocate to smaller communities with a population of 50,000 or less, including those that provide health services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations.
Family doctors and residents in family medicine will be eligible to receive up to $8,000 per year in Canada Student Loan forgiveness to a maximum of $40,000 over five years; nurses and nurse practitioners will be eligible to receive up to $4,000 per year to a maximum of $20,000 over five years.
Click here for more details.
Would you like to see a similar program here in Canada? Or at least one that moves beyond the medical profession?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: James | Jan 30, 2022 4:31:34 AM
Ok so they want to give people who make some of the highest wages and have the highest job security in this country free education yet when a regular person with a student loan works a job for 7 years needs employement insuranceand and gets denied is my loan forgiven? no.
Is my interest on my loan halted? no.
So in response for your loan forgiveness idea,
my mother taught me to spread love whenever possible so "GO LOVE YOURSELF"
Posted by: Bob | Jan 30, 2022 7:26:09 AM
All these grads now a day were living the life of Riley while in school. Some take longer then the course length to graduate so they owe more! Now they want loan forgiveness? Give me a break.
If they took a degree that there are no jobs too bad for them. They wasted time and money and want forgiveness sorry no way. Learn to pay your bills in life starting with your first loan your student loan. Life will show you lots of other indebtness as you go thru it. This generation expects a silver platter well guess what there are no free rides!
Posted by: Dave | Jan 30, 2022 8:15:39 AM
............and, another group will come out ....." what about us"?
Posted by: Roger | Jan 30, 2022 9:15:10 AM
Post Secondary education should be free for those that are capable of completing their courses. Loading our youth with heavy debt load is foolish. There should not be a free ride.....perform or lose the benefit.
Posted by: Student | Jan 30, 2022 10:49:58 AM
I completely paid off my loan after one year of working. I also did not receive any money from my parents for tuition or housing. I graduated from one of the most expensive programs (eng) and did not work summer jobs while in school. Instead of whining about loan forgiveness, maybe these people should hold off on that new house or car they are planning to buy and pay back the money they are legally responsible for.
Posted by: Dustin | Jan 30, 2022 10:58:40 AM
People who are schooled in mediecin should have to pay it all back, they make more then enough money, while people like me who are in the IT industry have to struggle to make payments on time, and live off food banks and live payday to payday
Posted by: Christine | Jan 30, 2022 12:30:25 PM
We already have this program in BC so maybe they should do a little research before they write an article like this one. Here is the links to apply.
http://www.aved.gov.bc.ca/studentaidbc/forms/index.php
http://www.aved.gov.bc.ca/studentaidbc/forms/docs/repay/bcloanforgiveness_application.pdf
Posted by: LC | Jan 30, 2022 12:47:15 PM
For those who think doctors shouldn't get loan forgiveness: I'm not a doctor but I have friends who are, and you're sadly mistaken if you think they are living the high life an rolling in money. I have a friend who pays $1000 a month (for 25 years!!!!) in student loans and works 12-14 hour days so she can afford to live. Being a family practitioner means se has a lot of overhead and on paper it looks like he makes decent money, but when you factor hours worked, loan payments, cost of living, overhead for the practice she works at... She's no better off then most other people.
All this considered, YA SHE SHOULD have some loan forgiveness. She is serving her community and helping to keep people safe and healthy. Without people like her, the rest of us would be screwed. So, don't shit on doctors, you need them, and they work very hard and pay a lot of money to save your ass!
Posted by: elsa | Jan 30, 2022 1:03:18 PM
About the WILL CANADA MIMIC U.S GOVERMENT' S STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENES PROGRAM .YES I HAVE COMMENT IS NOT SECRET THE ECOMY IN U.S HAS AND HAS BEEN FOR A WHILE IN RESSETION AND ALL OF TOO MANY ECONOMIC PROBLEMS BUT STILL REMAIN DEMOCRATIC .BIG WHY CANADA IS NOT AND NOT BEFORE OR AFTER FORGIVE FOR E WAY AND WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE WE WE ALL TOO MANY LIVE POVERTY DIE WORRY HOW LIVE WITH OUT NOTHING BUT WE HAVE STUDENT LOAN.
Posted by: CityGirl | Jan 30, 2022 1:07:36 PM
I agree with the medical industry loan forgiveness based on the program as it stands today. The government is providing under serviced communities with medical care. Having said that, I do NOT agree with a general student loan forgiveness program in Canada. A lot of our post secondary education is financially supported by our governments (provincial and federal) and as a result, the cost of tuition in Canada is significantly lower than it is in the US. So it is possible for students to pay off their loans. When I was in University, I had a lot of classmates that took their money from their loans and went shopping or on vacations. I worked part-time throughout the school year and full time in the summer to pay my way without any loans or grants.
Posted by: dale | Jan 30, 2022 2:21:39 PM
You borrowed the dam money you can pay it back
Posted by: Gail | Jan 30, 2022 2:22:34 PM
No I don't think student debt should be forgiven. I am tired of paying taxes so people can have a free ride. They knew or should have known what those loans cost and make allowances to pay them back. If they bought a house or car nobody is going to forgive those loans. The reality is if everyone got their loans forgiven, someone has to pay and that is the tax payer so look at it this way, you can pay your student loans back now, or you can pay higher taxes for the rest of your life to cover that post secondary education you think should be FREE. Nothing is FREE.
Posted by: Al | Jan 30, 2022 6:44:34 PM
Great! another brainfart gov't program dreamed up by other gov't workers who have never had to work in the private sector. The gov't and its programs have no resources, they have to take it from the private sector first meaning that canadians who actually work for a living and produce get stuck with the bill. Also think about the moral hazard for student loan foregiveness, it tells people...its ok to not pay your bills because you went to school, everyone else though who didn't now has to pay them for you. Way to go canada, keep that divide between those who studied liberal arts have no marketable skills and those who decide not to waste four years and $100,000. Those who apprenticed, worked and studied during that time and do produce..yeah stick them with the bill! You couldn't make this stuff up.
Posted by: Theresa | Jan 30, 2022 6:57:02 PM
The cost of education is insane in Canada.The interest rate on student loans are prime plus 3%. A bachelor degree costs about $40-60K. If you do the math that is an insane debt - almost a punishment for trying to be smarter. Not all degrees have a financial return that is high enough to blast this debt in a timely manner - especially for someone who had to wait until later in life to get said degree.
Education needs to be more affordable - as it is in other countries. If education was more affordable we wouldn't have to hire our talent from other countries - while our own citizens have to choose between a life of low wages or a life of crushing debt. There is a lot of "unpapered" brilliance out there because of this financial punishment associated with higher education.
An educated workforce makes better wages and pays more taxes. The taxes can go back into the system to keep education more affordable...
Posted by: Really !!! | Jan 30, 2022 6:59:51 PM
Holy Crap ELSA... nice way to butcher the English language... and in CAPS too !! Bet you didn't have any student loans to pay off... seeing you barely graduated from 8th grade.
Posted by: Sam | Jan 30, 2022 7:08:52 PM
Borrow the money, get the education and then leave the country with all the whining old people who've been milking the system for years and are not smart enough to see the benefits of an educated population for the nation as a whole.
Other countries can see the benefits of helping the generation that is expected to pay for everyone else's retirement but clearly that is no longer the case for Canada.
On the bright side, the educated young who stay in Canada can demand lower taxes for themselves as they have funded their own success and we can all watch Canada slide backwards into violence and poverty like America as the ME FIRST mentality fully takes hold.
Whatever happened to the Canada that was leading the way providing a hand up to everyone willing to work hard now and contribute from their success later?
Posted by: No Way | Jan 30, 2022 7:11:35 PM
Ohhh... the Entitlement of it all. Go to university and take some crap courses like Arts, Social Studies, etc. Spend 4 years partying during the semester AND the summer, take March break vacations down south, don;t worry about getting a summer job and then, after you decide to "graduate" with your relatively useless little diploma... the rest of Canadian taxpayers will say "Hey, no problem, we'll pay for your "education"". Uhhhh... don't think so.
Posted by: ray larder | Jan 30, 2022 8:30:18 PM
If this is TAXPAYER MONEY we taxpayers want it back, every last cent, You wanted the Education, You pay for it, i don't care who you are or what you do, YOU used other people's money, PAY IT BACK !
Posted by: Jobs? | Jan 30, 2022 11:19:46 PM
How about instead of forgiving student loan debt we create more jobs so those of us who complete our degrees don't end up at Wal-Mart where we can't earn enough to pay the loans?
Posted by: Cat | Feb 28, 2022 5:48:52 PM
Government is afraid of brain drain. Many doctors who study here in Canada can find much better paid jobs in US. Do you want less waiting lines to see a doctor? Then help them stay in Canada.