POLI Y MANUAL

1 POLICY MANUAL 2018-2019 MINISTRY OF ADVANCED EDUCATION, SKILLS AND TRAININGT able of Contents 2018-2019 StudentAid BC Policy MANUAL Effective date: August 1, 2018 i TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .. 1 About StudentAid BC .. 1 StudentAid BC Programs .. 2 Key Changes for 2018-2019 .. 3 Chapter 1: Institution Designation for Student Financial Assistance .. 4 Section 1: Achieving Designation for Student Financial 5 Section 2: Maintaining Designation .. 7 Section 3: Procedures .. 9 Chapter 2: Program Eligibility .. 12 Section 1: Eligibility Criteria for Programs of Study .. 12 Section 2: Practice Education, Paid Work Terms and Field 15 Section 3: Guidelines for Program Cost.

2 19 Section 4: Ineligible Programs .. 22 Section 5: Alternate Programs and Alternate Program Delivery .. 23 Section 6: Program Eligibility Application Procedures .. 26 Section 7: Institution Closure .. 27 Chapter 3: Student Eligibility .. 28 Section 1: Basic StudentAid BC Eligibility .. 28 Section 2: Citizenship and Status in Canada .. 30 Section 3: Residency Requirements .. 31 Section 4: Primary Occupation .. 34 Section 5: Credit Screening .. 34 Section 6: Bankruptcy and Rehabilitation after Bankruptcy .. 35 Section 7: Split Enrolment .. 38 Section 8: Unclassified Studies and Qualifying Years .. 41 Section 9: Co-op Students and Paid Work Terms .. 41 Section 10: International Exchange.

3 42 Section 11: Prisoners and Parolees .. 44 Section 12: Developmental Programs .. 44 Section 13: Students Sponsored by Employment and Social Development Canada .. 46 Table of Contents 2018-2019 StudentAid BC Policy MANUAL Effective date: August 1, 2018 ii Chapter 4: Application Process .. 47 Section 1: Contractual Relationship .. 47 Section 2: Applying for Student Financial Assistance .. 48 Section 3: Release of Funds .. 50 Section 4: Lost Cheques .. 53 Chapter 5: Non-Repayable Financial Assistance .. 55 Section 1: Adult Upgrading Grant .. 56 Section 2: Access Grant for Labour Market Priorities .. 56 Section 3: Canada Student Grants .. 59 Section 4: Lieutenant-Governor s Silver Medal.

4 62 Section 5: Nurses Education Bursary .. 62 Section 6: Pacific Leaders Programs Scholarships .. 64 Section 7: Tuition Waiver Program for Former Youth In Care .. 64 Section 8: Youth Educational Assistance Fund .. 65 Section 9: T4A Information .. 66 Chapter 6: Programs for Students with Permanent Disabilities .. 67 Section 1: Eligibility Criteria .. 67 Section 2: Permanent Disability Programs .. 69 Section 3: Debt Management .. 80 Section 4: Disability Services for Public Post-Secondary Institutions .. 82 Chapter 7: Financial Need Assessment Process .. 84 Section 1: Overview .. 84 Section 2: Step 1 Identify the Student s Category .. 86 Section 3: Step 2 Assess the Student s Costs.

5 89 Section 4: Step 3 Assess the Student s Resources .. 93 Section 5: Step 4 Calculate the Student s Assessed Need .. 99 Section 6: Students with Disabilities in the Employment Program of BC .. 99 Chapter 8: Award Composition and Disbursement .. 102 Section 1: Limits of Allowable Student Financial Assistance .. 102 Section 2: Award Configuration .. 105 Section 3: Award Disbursement .. 105 Chapter 9: Maintaining 107 Section 1: Scholastic Standing for Full-time Students .. 107 Section 2: Withdrawals .. 109 Table of Contents 2018-2019 StudentAid BC Policy MANUAL Effective date: August 1, 2018 iii Section 3: Change in Institution/Program Status (Training Out) .. 113 Section 4: Interruption of Study.

6 113 Section 5: Audit and Verification .. 114 Chapter 10: Changes to Student Circumstances .. 117 Section 1: Reassessment .. 117 Section 2: Transferring between Post-Secondary Institutions .. 120 Section 3: Overawards (Loans and Grants) .. 121 Chapter 11: Repayment, Default and Rehabilitation .. 125 Section 1: Interest-Free Status for Integrated Loans .. 126 Section 2: Loan Repayment .. 128 Section 3: Repayment of Provincial Grant Overawards for Students Continuing their Studies .. 131 Section 4: Repayment Assistance Plans .. 131 Section 5: Completion Grant .. 133 Section 6: Completion Grant for Graduates .. 134 Section 7: Revision of Terms .. 135 Section 8: Pacific Leaders Loan Forgiveness Program.

7 135 Section 9: Loan Forgiveness Program .. 136 Section 10: Canada Student Loan Forgiveness for Family Doctors and Nurses .. 140 Section 11: Canada Student Loans Program Severe Permanent Disability Benefit .. 140 Section 12: British Columbia Provision for Students with Severe Disabilities .. 140 Section 13: Default on Integrated Loans .. 140 Section 14: Default on Risk-Sharing and Guaranteed Loans .. 142 Section 15: Rehabilitation after Default .. 143 Section 16: Death of a Student .. 145 Chapter 12: Financial Assistance for Part-Time Students .. 147 Section 1: Eligibility Criteria .. 147 Example 1: .. 149 Example 2: .. 149 Section 2: Grants and Loans for Part-Time 150 Section 3: Calculating Financial Need and Income Thresholds.

8 153 Section 4: Disbursement of Funding .. 155 Section 5: T4A Information .. 156 Section 6: Integrated Loan Payments .. 156 Section 7: Lost Loan Documents .. 157 Table of Contents 2018-2019 StudentAid BC Policy MANUAL Effective date: August 1, 2018 iv Section 8: Cancellation of a Part-Time Application .. 158 Section 9: Cancellation of Part-Time Loan Documents and Cheques .. 158 Chapter 13: Appeals .. 160 Section 1: StudentAid BC Appeals .. 160 Section 2: Completion Grant Appeals .. 163 Chapter 14: Tables .. 164 Table 1: Tuition and Compulsory Fees .. 165 Table 2: Books and Supplies .. 165 Table 3: Student Living Allowances Table 3: Moderate Standard of Living (MSOL) Costs .. 166 Table 4: Child Care Ceilings.

9 169 Table 5: Parental Living Allowance .. 170 Table 6: Parental Contribution Formula .. 171 Table 7a: Income Thresholds for Maximum Canada Student Grants .. 172 Table 7b: Family Income Eligibility Thresholds for Part-Time Student Loan (CSL-PT) .. 172 Table 8: Return Transportation .. 173 Table 9: Additional Transportation Allowance (Appeal Basis Only) .. 174 Chapter 15: Definitions .. 175 Chapter 16: Contacts .. 201 Introduction 2018-2019 StudentAid BC Policy MANUAL Effective date: August 1, 2018 1 INTRODUCTION About StudentAid BC StudentAid BC is a program that delivers Province of British Columbia and Government of Canada financial assistance programs to eligible students undertaking post-secondary education.

10 This consists of a combination of repayable loans, non-repayable grants and bursaries, and debt reduction measures intended to support the success of post-secondary students and graduates. StudentAid BC also provides student financial assistance under separate programs and criteria for students with a permanent disability, part-time students, current or former youth in care, and students in developmental programs (Adult Basic Education, English as a Second Language, or Adult Special Education). It is the purpose of StudentAid BC to provide and administer programs that support a student s ability to access post-secondary educational opportunities and future employment opportunities. At the same time, StudentAid BC seeks to protect the investment made by the taxpayers of British Columbia in operating a student financial aid program.