What is an appeal?
You can submit an appeal to have StudentAid BC review your assessment if your personal situation has changed in a way that may have impacted your assessment. If your circumstances meet one or more of the criteria listed within the drop-down menus of the appeal categories below, and you have not received the maximum amount of funding for the application study period, you may submit an appeal request. The outcome may result in a change to your StudentAid BC award.
Submitting an appeal request does not guarantee that you will receive more StudentAid BC funding. Even if your educational and living costs are high, StudentAid BC is restricted by maximum student loan and grant amounts. You cannot increase your award through an appeal if you reach the maximum student loan or grant amounts. Please review your Notice of Assessment to see if you have received maximum funding amounts.
How do I request an appeal?
- 1 Talk to a financial aid officer at your school. If you are attending a B.C. public post-secondary institution or Trinity Western University, they can help you with the appeal process. You can contact StudentAid BC if you are attending a private post-secondary institution within B.C. or a school outside of B.C.
- 2Read the Appeal Criteria listed in each appeal category below.
- 3 Complete the appropriate Appeal Request Form and gather all the required documentation.
- 4 Upload your completed Appeal Request Form and all required documentation to your StudentAid BC Dashboard.
Deadlines
Your appeal assessment will be delayed or denied if you do not submit your completed Appeal Request Form and all required documentation by the deadline.
- Overawards: 90 days after the date of the letter from StudentAid BC advising you of the overaward.
- All other appeals: Six weeks before your current study period end date.
How long does it take for StudentAid BC to process an appeal?
It can take up to six weeks to process an appeal request. Please check StudentAid BC's home page for current processing times.
What does the appeal process look like?
- 1 StudentAid BC reviews your Appeal Request Form and all supporting documentation and applies policy found in StudentAid BC's Policy Manual to determine if your circumstances meet the criteria.
- 2 Your circumstances will be reviewed:
- If approved, you will receive a Final Decision Letter through your StudentAid BC Dashboard.
- If not approved, you will receive a Notification of Findings Letter through your StudentAid BC Dashboard. The Notification of Findings Letter includes the preliminary decision and a list of any missing documentation that is required to support your appeal request.
- 3 If you receive a Notification of Findings Letter, you will have 15 calendar days to submit further documentation to your StudentAid BC Dashboard.
- 4 Once all additional documentation is received, or the deadline has passed, you will receive a Final Decision Letter through your StudentAid BC Dashboard.
What can I do if my appeal is denied?
You can request that your appeal be reviewed by the Appeal Committee.
Appeals will be denied by StudentAid BC when
- You fail to provide necessary documentation
- Your circumstances do not meet the criteria
If your appeal is denied, and your appeal issue was included in the list of policy and criteria that are eligible for an appeal, you may request that your file be presented to the Appeal Committee for further consideration. Denied appeals are not automatically referred to the Appeal Committee for consideration.
The Appeal Committee includes students, financial aid officers, a member from the public at large, and a non-voting representative from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. The Appeal Committee meets, as needed, based on the referral of cases. The Appeal Committee considers all documentation and makes recommendations that are subject to the final approval of the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills or their designate.
Please check StudentAid BC's home page for the date of the next Appeal Committee meeting.
Learn more about the StudentAid BC Appeals Outcomes for 2022/23.
Appeal Categories for Full-Time Students
Select an appeal category from the menu below to review the Appeal Criteria and download the appropriate Appeal Request Form. We recommend you download and open the form using the latest version of Adobe Reader.
Appeal Categories 2024/25
Deadline
- Multiple Withdrawal/Unsuccessful Studies Appeal: Six weeks before your study period ends
- Overaward Appeal: 90 days from the date you received the letter advising of your overaward
Appeal Criteria
You can appeal your scholastic standing when you are otherwise on track to successfully complete your program and one or more of the following criteria has impacted your ability to study:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Other exceptional circumstance
Multiple Withdrawals
If you have withdrawn from full-time studies twice while receiving StudentAid BC funding or having in-study payment-free status, you will be denied further assistance.
To reinstate your eligibility, you must successfully complete two terms/semesters or one academic year of full-time study without using any StudentAid BC funds or you can submit an appeal request if you meet one or more of the above Appeal Criteria.
Unsuccessful Studies
If you fail a total of 68 weeks of post-secondary courses while receiving StudentAid BC funding or in-study payment-free status, you will be denied future assistance.
To reinstate your eligibility, you must successfully complete two terms/semesters or one academic year of full-time study without using any StudentAid BC funds or you can submit an appeal request if you meet one or more of the above Appeal Criteria.
Overaward
An overaward means that you received more StudentAid BC funding than you were eligible for during your study period. In most circumstances, students will have a loan overaward deducted from any future loan entitlement. You can submit an appeal request if you meet one or more of the above Appeal Criteria.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request to repeat your course when you have passed a course but did not obtain the grade required to proceed to the next level in your program of post-secondary study.
Note: You are not eligible for financial assistance if you are repeating courses solely to improve your grades.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
If you and/or your spouse/common-law partner or your parent(s), step-parent(s), sponsor(s) or legal guardian(s) have had, or anticipate having, a significant decrease in income due to an exceptional circumstance(s), you may request an appeal to have your student financial assistance application reassessed using income for the current program year that matches the year of your application number.
Exceptional circumstances include:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Layoff, strike, lockout, or other reduction in earnings beyond the family's control
- Other exceptional circumstance
Appeal Criteria
You may submit an appeal request if one or more of the following criteria caused you to not meet the required submission deadline to receive funding before your study period end date.
- Medical illness or injury;
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Layoff, strike, lockout, or other reduction in earnings beyond your control
- Other exceptional circumstance
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can appeal to waive your step-parent’s fixed contribution if your parent has had a recent (within the past five years) marriage or common-law relationship with a step-parent, where the step-parent has not assumed financial responsibility for you and does not claim you as a dependent on their taxes.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal to change your classification from a dependent student to an independent student if you meet one or more of the following criteria:
- You no longer communicate with your family due to an irreconcilable rift, and can provide satisfactory evidence of a severe and permanent breakdown in the relationship between you and the parent(s), such as being disowned. The family rift must have existed for at least one year unless a serious situation has arisen recently.
- You were a youth under the guardianship of, in an agreement with, a provincial or territorial child welfare agency on your 19th birthday.
- You would normally be classified as a dependent student by StudentAid BC, but you are unable to contact or locate your parents, step-parent, sponsor, or legal guardian due to conflict of emergency (such as war, famine or natural disaster) in the country where they live.
Do not submit this Appeal Request Form if you incorrectly indicated that you are a modified independent student (meaning there was no rift between you and your parent(s)) on your application. You must upload an Appendix 7 – Request for Reassessment to your StudentAid BC Dashboard and your parent(s) must mail an original Appendix 1 – Parent Information form with an ink signature.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You may appeal the B.C. student loan lifetime maximum limit if you meet all of the following criteria:
- You require funding to complete your study period
- You require approximately one or two more semesters to complete your program
- There are exceptional circumstance which contributed to your higher borrowing amount
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
If you receive StudentAid BC funding, you are expected to travel to and from school by the most economical means. As part of your StudentAid BC financial need assessment, you are automatically given a transportation allowance that equals the cost of a monthly public transit/bus pass.
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request for additional transportation allowance if one or more of the following criteria apply:
- There is no/limited local public transit where you live
- The travel is required due to special circumstances (e.g., work schedule, family transportation responsibilities, or a requirement to live a significant distance from your post-secondary institution)
- Additional transportation for a clinical or practicum placement is required
If you could move closer to your school for less or similar living costs, you will only be considered for the additional transportation allowance under exceptional circumstances.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
If you were denied B.C. student loan funding due to a previous bankruptcy or bankruptcy-related event that included B.C. student loans, you may appeal the denial if you can by demonstrate that:
- There were exceptional circumstance leading to your bankruptcy, such as medical reasons or marital breakdown
- You filed for bankruptcy during your study or non-repayment period and you are continuing in the same program of study in which you were enrolled at the date of bankruptcy or bankruptcy-related event
- If student loans were involved in the bankruptcy, Canada Student Financial Assistance Program has provided clearance for your receipt of new loans
- The loans involved in your bankruptcy or bankruptcy-related event have been discharged and you are in the process of rehabilitating your student loans
Note: If your Canada student loan is in default or was involved in your bankruptcy, you must contact Canada Student Financial Assistance Program to receive clearance for further funding. For more information on your federal loans, please contact the National Student Loans Service Centre at 1-888-815-4514 and ask to be transferred to the Case Review Unit of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
As part of their parental contribution, your parents, step-parents, sponsor or legal guardian are expected to provide free room and board if you are living at home. However, in some circumstances parents cannot afford to provide this support and must charge the student for room and board.
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if you are living at home and need to pay room and board, and if your parent(s)/step-parent/sponsor/legal guardian are:
- Receiving income assistance or disability benefits
- Receiving Canada Pension and/or old age supplement, with no other source of income or support
- Earning low income, and/or
- Unemployed due to layoff, strike or lockout.
We may limit the amount you can claim for room and board to reflect fair market rental value.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if you had exceptional expenses that created financial hardship that affected your ability to start or continue your studies, such as:
- Medical illness or injury;
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Unforeseen legal expenses
- Court-ordered payments
- Expenses related to your or your dependant’s permanent disability that are not covered by another funding source (uninsured)
Disability-related goods or services not covered by any other funding source may qualify as an exceptional expense. Items that are not considered in the initial financial need assessment but may be appealed include, but are not limited to:
- Disability-related medicine
- Specialized footwear and eyewear
- Special dietetic requirements
- Specialized apparel
- Attendant care and/or specialized transportation
Most B.C. post-secondary institutions stipulate that students must have medical/dental/health insurance coverage. A copy of your insurance plan is required in your appeal. To avoid receiving an overaward, make it clear if your insurance plan will be reimbursing you for any part of these costs.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if you believe there was an error in the evaluation of your scholarship, bursary or grant, or if you are in full-time studies and have a permanently disabled dependant aged 12 and over.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Dependent Student Appeal Criteria
As a dependent student, you can submit an appeal request for B.C. residency if any of the following apply:
- Your parent(s) reside in or maintain a family home in B.C., even if one parent works in another province
- Your parent(s) live in B.C., but your sponsor lives in another province
- Your parents are separated or divorced and the parent with whom you normally reside or from whom the principal financial support is received is a resident of B.C.
- Your parent(s) have been stationed abroad for a definite period of time (e.g., military service), and lived in B.C. for at least 12 months before leaving the country
- Your parent(s) are not living in Canada and you are studying in B.C.
- Your parent(s) are permanent residents who have been residents in B.C. for less than 12 months prior to the commencement of your study
- Both you and your parents originally resided in B.C., but your parent(s) have resided in another province for 12 consecutive months, and you stayed in B.C. to begin or continue post-secondary education
Independent Student Appeal Criteria
As an independent student, you can submit an appeal request for B.C. residency if any of the following apply:
- You are married/common-law and both you and your spouse/partner originally received student financial assistance from a province other than B.C. but are now both studying in B.C. and B.C. is the province of residency for one of you
- You are a married/common-law student from another province attending a B.C. post-secondary institution and your spouse/partner is employed in B.C. Your working spouse must provide documentation of employment in B.C. (pay stubs, letter from employer, etc.) for 12 consecutive months prior to the first day of classes in the study period
- You are considered to be a resident of another province but have completed four years of full-time study in B.C. prior to the start date of classes for which student financial assistance is being requested (the Province of British Columbia will accept you as a resident)
- You and your spouse/partner are both attending school in a third province (in which neither you or your spouse is a resident), each of you will then be considered a resident of your original province, unless a mutual agreement among provinces is reached
Deadline — Continuous intake
You are expected to start repaying your Canada-B.C. integrated loans and other B.C. student loans on the first day of the seventh month after leaving full-time studies. A default occurs when you fail to make monthly student loan payments as set out under your loan agreement.
If you have defaulted on repaying your student loan, you must request rehabilitation before you can apply for additional student financial assistance or interest-free status from StudentAid BC.
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if your request for rehabilitation of your B.C. student loan has been denied and you meet the following criteria:
- You have made reasonable efforts to rehabilitate your loan and
- You have experienced exceptional
circumstances which reasonably impacted your ability to make the equivalent
of two consecutive monthly payments and or your outstanding interest payment.
Exceptional circumstances include:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- A dependent with a permanent disability
- Layoff, strike, lockout or other reduction in earnings beyond your control
- Divorce
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request for in-study payment-free status if you did not meet the submission requirements due to:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Other exceptional circumstance
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request for single parent status if you have legal and/or physical custody and responsibility for supporting your own children for an average of eight days per month.
Appeal Categories 2023/24
Deadline
- Multiple Withdrawal/Unsuccessful Studies Appeal: Six weeks before your study period ends
- Overaward Appeal: 90 days from the date you received the letter advising of your overaward
Appeal Criteria
You can appeal your scholastic standing when you are otherwise on track to successfully complete your program and one or more of the following criteria has impacted your ability to study:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Other exceptional circumstance
Multiple Withdrawals
If you have withdrawn from full-time studies twice while receiving StudentAid BC funding or having in-study payment-free status, you will be denied further assistance.
To reinstate your eligibility, you must successfully complete two terms/semesters or one academic year of full-time study without using any StudentAid BC funds or you can submit an appeal request if you meet one or more of the above Appeal Criteria.
Unsuccessful Studies
If you fail a total of 68 weeks of post-secondary courses while receiving StudentAid BC funding or in-study payment-free status, you will be denied future assistance.
To reinstate your eligibility, you must successfully complete two terms/semesters or one academic year of full-time study without using any StudentAid BC funds or you can submit an appeal request if you meet one or more of the above Appeal Criteria.
Overaward
An overaward means that you received more StudentAid BC funding than you were eligible for during your study period. In most circumstances, students will have a loan overaward deducted from any future loan entitlement. You can submit an appeal request if you meet one or more of the above Appeal Criteria.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request to repeat your course when you have passed a course but did not obtain the grade required to proceed to the next level in your program of post-secondary study.
Note: You are not eligible for financial assistance if you are repeating courses solely to improve your grades.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
If you and/or your spouse/common-law partner or your parent(s), step-parent(s), sponsor(s) or legal guardian(s) have had, or anticipate having, a significant decrease in income due to an exceptional circumstance(s), you may request an appeal to have your student financial assistance application reassessed using income for the current program year that matches the year of your application number.
Exceptional circumstances include:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Layoff, strike, lockout, or other reduction in earnings beyond the family's control
- Other exceptional circumstance
Appeal Criteria
You may submit an appeal request if one or more of the following criteria caused you to not meet the required submission deadline to receive funding before your study period end date.
- Medical illness or injury;
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Layoff, strike, lockout, or other reduction in earnings beyond your control
- Other exceptional circumstance
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can appeal to waive your step-parent’s fixed contribution if your parent has had a recent (within the past five years) marriage or common-law relationship with a step-parent, where the step-parent has not assumed financial responsibility for you and does not claim you as a dependent on their taxes.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal to change your classification from a dependent student to an independent student if you meet one or more of the following criteria:
- You no longer communicate with your family due to an irreconcilable rift, and can provide satisfactory evidence of a severe and permanent breakdown in the relationship between you and the parent(s), such as being disowned. The family rift must have existed for at least one year unless a serious situation has arisen recently.
- You were a youth under the guardianship of, in an agreement with, a provincial or territorial child welfare agency on your 19th birthday.
- You would normally be classified as a dependent student by StudentAid BC, but you are unable to contact or locate your parents, step-parent, sponsor, or legal guardian due to conflict of emergency (such as war, famine or natural disaster) in the country where they live.
Do not submit this Appeal Request Form if you incorrectly indicated that you are a modified independent student (meaning there was no rift between you and your parent(s)) on your application. You must upload an Appendix 7 – Request for Reassessment to your StudentAid BC Dashboard and your parent(s) must mail an original Appendix 1 – Parent Information form with an ink signature.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You may appeal the B.C. student loan lifetime maximum limit if you meet all of the following criteria:
- You require funding to complete your study period
- You require approximately one or two more semesters to complete your program
- There are exceptional circumstance which contributed to your higher borrowing amount
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
If you receive StudentAid BC funding, you are expected to travel to and from school by the most economical means. As part of your StudentAid BC financial need assessment, you are automatically given a transportation allowance that equals the cost of a monthly public transit/bus pass.
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request for additional transportation allowance if one or more of the following criteria apply:
- There is no/limited local public transit where you live
- The travel is required due to special circumstances (e.g., work schedule, family transportation responsibilities, or a requirement to live a significant distance from your post-secondary institution)
- Additional transportation for a clinical or practicum placement is required
If you could move closer to your school for less or similar living costs, you will only be considered for the additional transportation allowance under exceptional circumstances.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
If you were denied B.C. student loan funding due to a previous bankruptcy or bankruptcy-related event that included B.C. student loans, you may appeal the denial if you can by demonstrate that:
- There were exceptional circumstance leading to your bankruptcy, such as medical reasons or marital breakdown
- You filed for bankruptcy during your study or non-repayment period and you are continuing in the same program of study in which you were enrolled at the date of bankruptcy or bankruptcy-related event
- If student loans were involved in the bankruptcy, Canada Student Financial Assistance Program has provided clearance for your receipt of new loans
- The loans involved in your bankruptcy or bankruptcy-related event have been discharged and you are in the process of rehabilitating your student loans
Note: If your Canada student loan is in default or was involved in your bankruptcy, you must contact Canada Student Financial Assistance Program to receive clearance for further funding. For more information on your federal loans, please contact the National Student Loans Service Centre at 1-888-815-4514 and ask to be transferred to the Case Review Unit of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
As part of their parental contribution, your parents, step-parents, sponsor or legal guardian are expected to provide free room and board if you are living at home. However, in some circumstances parents cannot afford to provide this support and must charge the student for room and board.
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if you are living at home and need to pay room and board, and if your parent(s)/step-parent/sponsor/legal guardian are:
- Receiving income assistance or disability benefits
- Receiving Canada Pension and/or old age supplement, with no other source of income or support
- Earning low income, and/or
- Unemployed due to layoff, strike or lockout.
We may limit the amount you can claim for room and board to reflect fair market rental value.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if you had exceptional expenses that created financial hardship that affected your ability to start or continue your studies, such as:
- Medical illness or injury;
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Unforeseen legal expenses
- Court-ordered payments
- Expenses related to your or your dependant’s permanent disability that are not covered by another funding source (uninsured)
Disability-related goods or services not covered by any other funding source may qualify as an exceptional expense. Items that are not considered in the initial financial need assessment but may be appealed include, but are not limited to:
- Disability-related medicine
- Specialized footwear and eyewear
- Special dietetic requirements
- Specialized apparel
- Attendant care and/or specialized transportation
Most B.C. post-secondary institutions stipulate that students must have medical/dental/health insurance coverage. A copy of your insurance plan is required in your appeal. To avoid receiving an overaward, make it clear if your insurance plan will be reimbursing you for any part of these costs.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if you believe there was an error in the evaluation of your scholarship, bursary or grant, or if you are in full-time studies and have a permanently disabled dependant aged 12 and over.
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Dependent Student Appeal Criteria
As a dependent student, you can submit an appeal request for B.C. residency if any of the following apply:
- Your parent(s) reside in or maintain a family home in B.C., even if one parent works in another province
- Your parent(s) live in B.C., but your sponsor lives in another province
- Your parents are separated or divorced and the parent with whom you normally reside or from whom the principal financial support is received is a resident of B.C.
- Your parent(s) have been stationed abroad for a definite period of time (e.g., military service), and lived in B.C. for at least 12 months before leaving the country
- Your parent(s) are not living in Canada and you are studying in B.C.
- Your parent(s) are permanent residents who have been residents in B.C. for less than 12 months prior to the commencement of your study
- Both you and your parents originally resided in B.C., but your parent(s) have resided in another province for 12 consecutive months, and you stayed in B.C. to begin or continue post-secondary education
Independent Student Appeal Criteria
As an independent student, you can submit an appeal request for B.C. residency if any of the following apply:
- You are married/common-law and both you and your spouse/partner originally received student financial assistance from a province other than B.C. but are now both studying in B.C. and B.C. is the province of residency for one of you
- You are a married/common-law student from another province attending a B.C. post-secondary institution and your spouse/partner is employed in B.C. Your working spouse must provide documentation of employment in B.C. (pay stubs, letter from employer, etc.) for 12 consecutive months prior to the first day of classes in the study period
- You are considered to be a resident of another province but have completed four years of full-time study in B.C. prior to the start date of classes for which student financial assistance is being requested (the Province of British Columbia will accept you as a resident)
- You and your spouse/partner are both attending school in a third province (in which neither you or your spouse is a resident), each of you will then be considered a resident of your original province, unless a mutual agreement among provinces is reached
Deadline — Continuous intake
You are expected to start repaying your Canada-B.C. integrated loans and other B.C. student loans on the first day of the seventh month after leaving full-time studies. A default occurs when you fail to make monthly student loan payments as set out under your loan agreement.
If you have defaulted on repaying your student loan, you must request rehabilitation before you can apply for additional student financial assistance or interest-free status from StudentAid BC.
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request if your request for rehabilitation of your B.C. student loan has been denied and you meet the following criteria:
- You have made reasonable efforts to rehabilitate your loan and
- You have experienced exceptional
circumstances which reasonably impacted your ability to make the equivalent
of two consecutive monthly payments and or your outstanding interest payment.
Exceptional circumstances include:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- A dependent with a permanent disability
- Layoff, strike, lockout or other reduction in earnings beyond your control
- Divorce
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request for in-study payment-free status if you did not meet the submission requirements due to:
- Medical illness or injury
- Family emergency (e.g., death or injury)
- Natural disaster
- Other exceptional circumstance
Deadline — Six weeks before your study period ends
Appeal Criteria
You can submit an appeal request for single parent status if you have legal and/or physical custody and responsibility for supporting your own children for an average of eight days per month.