MBA in Canada: $800 Million with Canada Student Loans Program PLUS Provincial Loans for Citizens & landed Immigrants

The Government of Canada offers loans and grants that make studying for an MBA an easy, risk-free affair for residents. The loans have a deferred payment period and provide extremely flexible payback options, especially if the student’s expected income fails to materialize. Here are the loan options in detail:

1) Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP)

The CSLP is a government sponsored scheme to provide loans for post-secondary education. In 2010-11, $2.2 billion was disbursed as loans for full-time programs to nearly 425,000 students. 4% of this money was given to masters or doctoral students. Under CSLP, loans of a maximum of $210 per week are available or 60% of the assessed need, whichever is lesser. For a one year program that works out to $10,920 or 60% of the cost, depending on which is lower. The loan year is from August 1 to July 31 and no guarantor is necessary.

Eligibility

• Canadian citizen, OR permanent resident OR a protected person

• Permanent resident of the province or territory that will disburse the loans or grants

• Have financial need

• Must pass a credit check if 22+ in age, and a first time applicant for student loans or grants

• To continue receiving aid each year, satisfactory grades need to be maintained

How to apply

Students seeking financial aid must apply to the province or territory they are permanent residents of.

1. Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island: Canada Student Loans can be availed parallel to the local financial aid.

2. Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and British Columbia: Integrated Student Loans are provided jointly by the Canadian and provincial governments.

3. Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Quebec: Canada Student Loans cannot be availed. There are provincial / territorial loans instead.

4. Yukon: The Canada Student Loans are the only available option here.

Repayment

• Interest starts accruing only after the course is completed

• The repayment period starts 6 months after course completion

• The repayment period is 9.5 years

• 54 months’ interest relief is available

• Repayment period can be extended up to 14.5 years under the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) for students facing difficulty in making repayments

• During Stage 1 of RAP, payments will not exceed 20% of the gross family income, with the government paying interest on the remainder repayment amount due

• After 60 months’ RAP or 10 years of repayment, Stage 2 begins - interest payments continue and the government starts paying the loan principal to completely pay off the loan within the 15 years’ repayment period

Interest rates

• Students can pick a fixed or variable interest rate

• Fixed interest rate = prime rate + 5%

• Floating interest rate = prime + 2.5%

• Prime rate is the average prime interest rates of Canada’s five largest financial institutions, obtained by eliminating the lowest and highest rates and calculating the average of the other three

Canada Student Grants

Grants are offered for students from / with:

• Low-Income Families

• Middle-Income Families

• Dependents

• Permanent Disabilities; They also have a Grant for Services and Equipment

2) Life Long Learning Plan (LLP)

The Canadian government’s Lifelong Learning Plan allows students to withdraw as much as $10,000 per year from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to fund an MBA for themselves, their spouses or common-law partner.

3) Provincial Loans

While almost all provinces or territories have different loan options for students, we cover the three that are home to Canada’s top 7 business schools - Ontario (Ivey, Rotman, Schulich and Queen’s), British Columbia (Sauder and Beedie) and Quebec (HEC)
Ontario.

The loan scheme is called the Ontario Students Assistance Plan (OSAP)

1. OSAP assistance is for Canadian Citizens or landed immigrants who reside in Ontario

2. It is a mix of a loan (Has to  be paid back)and a grant (Needn’t  be paid back), which is determined based on individual criteria like need, fees and dependents

3. The maximum amount for one academic year of two terms is:

• Single, without any dependents: $12,240

• Married or common-law or sole-support parent: $19,040

4. The maximum that would need to paid back is $7,300

British Columbia

The province of British Columbia joins hands with the Government of Canada to provide convenient, integrated loans.

To be eligible, students need to:

• Be Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who reside in British Columbia

• Have a valid Canadian social insurance number that does not start with 0 or 8

• Demonstrate financial need

• Make satisfactory academic progress in every phase of post-secondary learning

The maximum loan amount is:

• $510 per week if student has dependent children , which is a mix of loan and grant

• $320 per week as loan in case of no dependent children

Quebec

Quebec has its own Loans and Bursaries Program. No Canadian government aid is available.

To be eligible:

• Must be Canadian citizen or possess legal status in Canada

• Must be a resident of Québec

• Must not have reached debt limit for the level of education

• Must not have the required financial resources

How Financial Assistance is calculated

1. Financial needs = Allowable expenses – Financial Contributions.

Allowable expenses include tuition fees and living expenses. Financial contributions may be from the student, parent or spouse.

2. If financial needs > loan amount eligible for, students will receive the loan amount, and a bursary (grant) that covers the remaining amount required.

3. If financial needs = loan amount eligible for, only the loan amount will be received.

The maximum debt limit is

• MBA program duration of less than 20 months: $42,000

• MBA program duration of 20 or more months: $48,000

• Maximum monthly allowance: $405/month of study

Resources

1) Ontario Students Assistance Plan
2) British Columbia Loan
3) Quebec Loan Program
4) Canada Student Grants