In addition, Canadian banks offer commercial loans targeted for students in professional programs.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada living in any province for over a year, and protected persons[1] are normally eligible for loans provided by the federal government, through the CSLP, in addition to loans provided by their province of residence.
Beginning January 1, 2012, the Government of Canada eliminated interest on part-time student loans while borrowers are in-study.
Loans issued through provincial programs will normally provide students with enough funding to cover the balance of their assessed need.
Since its inception, the Program has supplemented the financial resources available to eligible students from other sources to assist in their pursuit of post-secondary education.
The Government of Canada developed a formalized "risk-shared" agreement with several financial institutions, whereby the institution would assume responsibility for the possible risk of defaulted loans in return for a fixed payment from the Government which correlated with the amount of loans that were expected to be, or were, in default in each calendar year.
[4] The March 2011 federal budget announced a Canada Student Loan forgiveness programme for medical and nursing students to complement other health human resources strategies to expand the provision of primary health services.
The programme is meant to encourage and support new family physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses to practise in underserved rural or remote communities of the country, including communities that provide health services to First Nations and Inuit populations.
[8] In September 2010 the amount of student loans owed to the Government of Canada surpassed $15 billion.
CSLP offers a number of programs to assist students who find themselves facing financial difficulty during repayment.