Canada Student Loan Forgiveness For Family Doctors

[HBP]

This is the program: http://www.canlearn.ca/eng/loans_grants/repayment/help/forgiveness.shtml

 

I was wondering if anyone who is taking advantage of this program has partially paid down their OSAP (either with cash or LOC) but left a portion in their NSLSC account for loan forgiveness.  I believe the forgiveness can only be applied to the federal portion of the loan.

[thatonekid]

Yes. I have a friend who did rural FM residency who paid everything except $16000 prior to residency. They used that program to get the $16000 forgiven, and then just paid the interest that accumulated for the $16000 over the 2 years. The paperwork was a bit of a bother, but totally worth it.

[HBP]

I believe if you leave only $16000 with NSLSC, you won't be able to get it all forgiven.  I think because any payments made towards the integrated federal-ontario loan are applied to both portions equally, whereas the program only forgives from the federal portion.  So you would have to ensure the balance left in the NSLSC account is large enough that it leaves 16k federally.

 

I suppose I'll give them a call to confirm though.

[thatonekid]

So, I asked my friend to explain it. In general, most people initially have a 60/40 split, with the 60 being the federal part. If you've never paid off any on the loan, the Ontario part will be reduced from your yearly opportunity grant (that you get after filing your taxes and if you qualify). Depending on your loan amount remaining, when you make a payment, it is applied to your loan at the current proportion owing. My friend had all their provincial loan paid off with the opportunity grant, and so all payments were federal, so they could leave $16000 owing and just pay off the interest. The best bet to know how much you own and what your current proportion is, is to call. Hope that helped somewhat.