POLICY MANUAL 2013/2014 - StudentAidBC

POLICY MANUAL 2013/2014

Ministry of Advanced Education

Introduction

Introduction

Welcome to the StudentAid BC Policy Manual for the 2013/14 program year.

StudentAid BC is the name for all student financial assistance programs offered through the provincial government.

StudentAid BC (SABC) is a joint program between the federal and provincial governments. Each government has its own financial assistance program. SABC administers the provincial program and some aspects of the federal program. StudentAid BC provides a comprehensive package of financial aid to post-secondary students. The main program is a combination of repayable loans and non-repayable assistance in the form of grants and debt reduction measures, with awards based on calculated financial need. A variety of other special programs complement the main program by providing alternate sources of funding.

The StudentAid BC mission: "To strengthen the provincial economy by providing affordable and comprehensive post-secondary financial aid programs to all BC residents."

StudentAid BC principles:

1 There should be equality of access to post-secondary education; limited financial resources should not be a barrier. Where barriers exist, assistance should be directed to help remove these in order to permit access to post-secondary education.

2 All newly created programs should be evidence-based and, where applicable, aligned with labour market demands while improving services to students at a minimal cost to taxpayers.

3 Student financial assistance is a shared responsibility as both students and society benefit from a post-secondary education. As such, StudentAid BC programs should seek to provide assistance to those most in need while ensuring program integrity and accountability.

4 A comprehensive student financial assistance package provides need-based and merit-based programs when accessing post-secondary education but also seeks to minimize student debt load and maximize the long-term benefits to the province through labour market linkages.

5 A student assistance program should encourage successful and timely completion of a program of study. 6 Student financial assistance should also encourage a post-secondary education for traditionally

under-represented segments of society through initiatives to eliminate barriers (both financial and societal).

As a needs-based program StudentAid exists to supplement, not replace, funds available to students through work, savings/assets and family resources/income. The program considers income and resources against basic educational costs and a moderate standard of living. For this reason, there is a limit to the amount of funding available to students based on the number of weeks of study in an application period. In addition, both the federal and provincial programs have lifetime maximums.

Students in high-tuition programs or with significant financial commitments in addition to direct educational expenses may need to seek alternate sources of funds. Financial planning is required prior to any decision to pursue post-secondary studies to ensure that sufficient resources are available to cover all costs. Students should review their financial situation on an on-going basis to ensure that their obligation to repay the cumulative debt load can be met once full-time post-secondary studies cease. Information, forms and applications are available at studentaidbc.ca.

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StudentAid BC

Policy Manual 2013/2014

Effective Date: August 27, 2013 Updated: December 27, 2013

Introduction

StudentAid BC disburses:

General Assistance Programs

Canada-British Columbia Integrated Student Loans

Canada Student Grant for Persons from Low Income Families

Canada Student Grant for Persons from Middle Income Families

Canada Student Grant for Persons with Dependents (Full-time)

Repayment Assistance Programs

BC Repayment Assistance Plan Canada Repayment Assistance Plan Revision of Terms

Loan Reduction/Forgiveness Programs (Postgraduation)

BC Loan Reduction Program Pacific Leaders BC Loan Forgiveness Program BC Loan Forgiveness Program (for selected

Health & Education-related programs) BC Loan Remission Program

Other Assistance Programs and Appeals

Appeals Process

Students with Disabilities Assistance Programs

Canada Student Grant for Services and Equipment for Persons with Permanent Disabilities Canada Student Grant for Persons with

Permanent Disabilities BC Assistance Program for Students with

Permanent Disabilities

Learning Disability Assessment Bursary Supplemental Bursary for Students with

Disabilities BC Access Grant for Full-time Students with

Permanent Disabilities BC Access Grant for Deaf Students Provision for Students with Severe Disabilities

Part-Time Studies Assistance Programs

Canada Student Grant for Persons with Dependents (Part-time Students).

Canada Student Grant for Part-time Studies Part-time Canada Student Loan Program

Scholarships, Bursaries and Grants

Adult Basic Education Student Assistance Program

Nurses Education Bursary Youth Education Assistance Fund Pacific Leaders Scholarship for Public Servants Pacific Leaders Children of Public Servants

Scholarship Program Irving K. Barber BC Scholarship The Lieutenant Governor's Silver Medal BC Access Grant - Labour Market Priorities

StudentAid BC also provides aid under separate programs and criteria for part-time students, parttime students with permanent disabilities, students upgrading to grade 12, and former youth in care, in addition to specific scholarships and targeted awards programs.

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StudentAid BC

Policy Manual 2013/2014

Effective Date: August 27, 2013 Updated: December 27, 2013

Introduction

Key Changes

Canada Study Grant for Part-Time Students with Dependents

A new calculation is now less restrictive allowing more students to qualify for grant funding by basing criteria on assessed need, rather than minimum loan disbursement.

BC Access Grant ? Labour Market Priorities

A new provincial grant targeted to meet labour market priorities has been introduced to provide financial support to students enrolled in priority program areas. A maximum $6,500 grant is targeted to students in trades programs in Northern/Central Interior Region, specifically: Northern Lights College, Northwest Community College, College of New Caledonia and Thompson Rivers University.

Electronic Textbooks

E-books can be assessed within the actual amount for books supplies, and computer-related costs, up to a maximum of $3,000 for each loan year.

Federal Loan forgiveness for family doctors, residents in family medicine, nurses and nurse practitioners who work in under-served rural or remote communities

Family doctors, residents in family medicine, nurse practitioners, and nurses that practice in designated rural or remote communities may be eligible to have a portion of their Canada Student Loans (CSL forgiven. Family doctors and family medicine residents in training with an accredited medical school in Canada may receive up to $8,000 per year in CSL forgiveness to a maximum of $40,000 over five years. Nurse practitioners and nurses may receive up to $4,000 per year in CSL forgiveness to a maximum of $20,000 over five years.

Email Addresses

Student e-mail addresses are now a mandatory requirement on all StudentAid BC applications.

Using this manual

Revisions and additions are highlighted in olive coloured type. A bullet character (?) is placed where deletions have been made.

Readers are directed to other sections of the manual by cross-references. For example, `See 14-2' references Chapter 14, Section 2. In some cases, subsections are included in the reference. A colour cross-reference indicates that it is a clickable hyperlink to the referenced location in the PDF version of the manual. External web links are also colour highlighted to signify a clickable external link.

Many of the terms used are defined elsewhere in the manual. They are highlighted in green (for example, full-time) to indicate that the term is hyperlinked to its definition elsewhere in the manual.

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StudentAid BC

Policy Manual 2013/2014

Effective Date: August 27, 2013 Updated: December 27, 2013

Introduction

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Key Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 1 - StudentAid BC School Designation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Section 1 - Achieving StudentAid BC Designation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Section 2 - Maintaining Designation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Section 3 - Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 2 - Program Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Section 1 - Programs of Study Eligibility Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Section 2 - Practice Education, Paid Work Terms and Field Trips . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Section 3 - Guidelines for Program Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Section 4 - Ineligible Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Section 5 - Alternate Programs and Alternate Program Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Section 6 - Program Eligibility Application Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter 3 - StudentAid BC Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Section 1 - Release of Canada-British Columbia Integrated Student Loan and/or Grant Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Section 2 - Supplemental Bursary for Students with Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Section 3 - BC Access Grant for Students with Permanent Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Section 4 - BC Access Grant for Deaf Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Section 5 - Learning Disability Assessment Bursary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Section 6 - Canada Student Grant for Persons from Low-income Families; Middle-income Families; Persons

with Dependants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Section 7 - Canada Student Grant for Persons with Permanent Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Section 8 - Canada Student Grant for Services and Equipment for Persons with Permanent Disabilities . . . . . 48

Chapter 4 - Scholarships, Bursaries, Grants, Awards and Targeted Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Section 1 - Adult Basic Education Student Assistance Program (ABESAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Section 2 - British Columbia Nurses Education Bursary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Section 3 - Irving K. Barber British Columbia Scholarship Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Section 4 - Lieutenant Governor's Silver Medal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Section 5 - Pacific Leaders programs scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Section 6 - Youth Educational Assistance Fund for Former Youth in Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Section 7 - BC Access Grant ? Labour Market Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Section 8 - T4A Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Chapter 5 - Student Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Section 1 - Basic StudentAid BC Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Section 2 - Split Enrolment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Section 3 - Unclassified Studies/Qualifying Years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Section 4 - Co-op Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Section 5 - International Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Section 6 - Citizenship/Status in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Section 7 - Group Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Section 8 - Residency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Section 9 - Residency Permanent Residents/Landed Immigrants/Protected Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Section 10 - Primary Occupation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Section 11 - Prisoners/Parolees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Section 12 - Adult Basic Education/English as a Second Language/Adult Special Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Section 13 - Credit Screening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Section 14 - Bankruptcy and Rehabilitation after Bankruptcy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

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StudentAid BC

Policy Manual 2013/2014

Effective Date: August 27, 2013 Updated: December 27, 2013

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