How to Apply for a Student Loan and Grant in Canada

When: before the start of your schooling. Ideally apply 60 days before the start of classes!

So July 2025 or earlier!

Give yourself plenty of time so that you can make alternate financial plans if you do not qualify for a grant or loan.

Your Application can take up to 8 weeks to be assessed.

Why? to see if you qualify for any grants and not just the loan. There are Alberta student grants for full time students that you might be eligible for!

This is dependent upon your family income.

Why? You need the money

Eligibility:

Now, if you don't qualify for the grant this year, you might next year so keep applying for each year of school.

Also your status will start out as a dependent under your parents but will eventually you will spread your wings and become an independent once you reach certain qualifications such as age, marital status or if you have children.

What is considered a dependent vs independent student?

Also, if you don't qualify for a grant, you might qualify for a loan instead. However before we get into that, the federal and provincial government have expectations that students contribute a certain dollar amount towards their education depending on their family's income level.

Alberta student loans, expects students to contribute at least $1500 unless your parents receive AISH or CPP-D.

Canada expects students to contribute $1500-3000 unless you are indigenous, have a disability or were in government care. Make sure that you answer these questions about contributions honestly, otherwise it is considered fraud.

There are also annual loan limits between the Canadian and Alberta student loans.

They base this on a basic monthly allowance depending on whether you are living with your parents or on your own. It is expected that if you attend school in the same city as your parents, that you would stay at home rather than renting or staying in student housing.

Also, don't forget to keep applying for scholarships! These do not affect your student aid.

Also, keep in mind that there are loan limits as well which are dependent upon the different program or degree that you are working towards. For example, a loan towards medical schooling, has a higher lifetime limit than a mechanic journeyperson certificate.

Where to start the Application Process:

If you are new to this procedure, apparently there is a new and improved way to access your account.

I liked that they have combined it with your My CRA account to put everything all in one place.

And it looks like if you bank with any of the big five banks, that you are all set up with Service Canada and don't need to get verified with a personal access code.

I say this every time I write a blog. It's a good idea to a have a student account or a Line of Credit with one of the Big Five Banks but have a Savings account with an online bank that gives you better Interest rates! As soon as my son turns 18, he will be opening an EQ account. He already has a Tangerine and TD bank account. You are allowed more than one bank account. Don't feel like you have to be loyal to your bank that you've had since childhood.

another bonus is that you already have a provincial account, it links with the myCRA. And if you are in Alberta, all of your health information is also on this Alberta Account.

If you don't have a provincial or My CRA account, then you will have to register for one with your SIN, Birth Registration Number of UCI.

Thankfully you only need to submit one application for both the federal and provincial loan application process.

What information ready before you start filling out the application?

Are you a full time or part time student because the loan will be partly based on that criteria too.

Independent vs Dependent student.

Know how much your parents will be providing via RESPs or other savings. There is a federal calculator for your expected parents contributions.

Know your educational costs, including your tuition, mandatory fees, books, and supplies. Just in case, it is significantly more than the standard budgeted costs. For example, maybe you are going overseas where costs are higher than in Canada.

Know your Total Income, line 15000 on your 2024 Notice of Assessment for your student and both parents.

Know your student ID number

Once you have included all of this information, there is a federal calculator for Student Aid Estimator of both the grant and loan to give you an idea what to expect.

If you do not think this amount is correct, you can fill in a lesser amount or if you think you need to go back and change any contributions amounts, you can also go back and do that as well which will change this preliminary loan amount.

This application took us a total of 30 minutes to fill out because we had all the information readily available!!

Once you receive approval of your loan then you need to complete your loan agreement and the school needs to confirm that you are registered. Some of the loan may go directly to the Post Secondary Institution with the remaining funds going to your bank account.

Remember that the funds will not be deposited until one week before classes begin.

Payback time!

Remember when you are paying back your loans that there is a separate provincial and federal loan payback schedule and interest amount.

Also remember to do the five minutes of paperwork to keep your student loan at bay while you are still attending part time studies.

It's a bit confusing because the Canada student loan are interest free but you have to start paying them back within six months even if you are still a part time student.

Whereas if you have Alberta only student loan, you can keep your loan in interest free status while you are still a part time student if you fill out the Form B paperwork.

Now Go and Be Intentional with your Student Loan.