You will need to plan and budget to pay for your post-secondary education and additional expenses like textbooks, transportation and meals.
Education after high school is a great investment but it's a great idea to plan what your costs are going to be.
Find programs and services to help you plan and add funds to your budget.
Note: Effective April 2021, the Government of Canada has suspended the accumulation of interest on Canada Student Loans until March 31, 2023.
No interest is charged on B.C. government-issued student loans as of February 19, 2019.
If you're planning on taking out a student loan, it's important to prepare for repayment. Use this loan repayment estimator to calculate the estimated monthly payments you'll need to make to repay your loan and how much your loan will cost with interest.
The prime rate is used as a base to calculate the interest applied to a Canada Student Loan. The prime rate is the annual interest rate Canada’s major banks and financial institutions use to set interest rates for loans. For more information, visit the Bank of Canada website.
The prime rate in Canada is currently 3.95%.
Fixed rate is a stable rate of interest. If you negotiate a fixed rate, you will be charged the same interest rate throughout your repayment period.
The current fixed rate is 5.95% (prime + 2%).
Variable rate is a rate of interest that varies over time with the prime rate. If you negotiate a variable rate, the interest you are charged during repayment of your loan will increase and decrease along with the prime rate.
The current variable rate is 3.95% (prime).
Note: Effective April 2021, the Government of Canada has suspended the accumulation of interest on Canada Student Loans until March 31, 2023.
The interest rate for the Canada portion of your integrated student loans is either a variable interest rate or a fixed rate.
The Canada portion of your integrated loan will automatically be charged the variable interest rate unless you choose to change to the fixed rate. Switching from a fixed to a variable rate is not permitted.
No interest is charged on all B.C. government-issued student loans.
If you take advantage of the six month non-repayment period, 114 monthly payments represent a total repayment period of 9.5 years (10 years x 12 monthly payments less your six month non-repayment period).
If you do not take advantage of the six month non-repayment period, 120 monthly payments represent a total repayment period of 10 years (10 years x 12 monthly payments).
You can select a shorter repayment period by entering a lower number of monthly payments.
