Policy Manual 2021-2022 - StudentAidBC

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 .. 19 Section 4: Ineligible Programs .. 22 Section 5: Alternate Programs and Alternate Program Delivery.

2 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 .. 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.

3 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 .. 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.

4 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 .. 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 .

5 107 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 .. 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.

6 131 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 .. 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.

7 147 Example 1: .. 149 Example 2: .. 149 Section 2: Grants and Loans for Part-Time 150 Section 3: Calculating Financial Need and Income Thresholds .. 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.

8 166 Table 4: Child Care Ceilings .. 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. 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.

9 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. The StudentAid BC program is administered following the guidelines described in this StudentAid BC Policy Manual .

10 StudentAid BC funding exists to supplement, not replace, funds available to students through individual and family resources, savings and income. The program evaluates a student s income and other resources against the costs of post-secondary study, including educational costs and typical living costs associated with a Moderate Standard of Living. Because StudentAid BC funding is intended to supplement other available resources, both the Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia student financial assistance programs have weekly and lifetime funding maximums (see Chapter 8, Section 1). students in high- tuition programs or with significant financial commitments in addition to direct educational expenses may need to seek alternate sources of funds to support their education choices.