Alberta Loan Grants? So Confused..

[Allie285]

Hi Guys, 

As a former Ontarian, I was looking over the details of my Alberta Student Loan and I was wondering how paying it back worked. In Ontario, anything above $7,300 from the Loan was covered by the OSOG grant, reducing the annual loan payment to $7,300 (above that was forgiven). 

 

Though Alberta offers more money, do they have a grant option which reduces your total repayment amount or do you have to pay the entire amount? Just so I can start managing my money appropriately. 

 

Thanks everyone!  

[GH0ST]

Hi Guys, 

As a former Ontarian, I was looking over the details of my Alberta Student Loan and I was wondering how paying it back worked. In Ontario, anything above $7,300 from the Loan was covered by the OSOG grant, reducing the annual loan payment to $7,300 (above that was forgiven). 

 

Though Alberta offers more money, do they have a grant option which reduces your total repayment amount or do you have to pay the entire amount? Just so I can start managing my money appropriately. 

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Usually in your AB student loan they tell you which part of it is a grant and which part is the loan. If your sheet did not say you had any grant money, then you will pay back all of the money.

 

There are various grant options whether through a university of through government loans. You can ask your financial aid centre for more details if necessary.

 

Best wishes,

 

- G

[Allie285]

Hey Ghoststalker!

 

Thanks for the advice! I think I was slightly ambiguous with my wording so let me make sure I am saying this right lol. 

 

For Ontario for example it is still a loan, but they have something called the Ontario Student Opportunity Grant (OSOG) where they pay down the Ontario part of the loan to $7,200. So for example if yo get $15,000 in funding , $3,000 as a grant and $12,000 as a loan, that $12,000 as a result of the OSOG grant, the loan portion becomes $7,200 as opposed to $12,000. Does that make more sense? They still have grant portions, but they also have grants that are designed to lower your loan portion. 

 

What I am curious to know is if Alberta has something like that as well, but there was no note on the application (like there is on the Ontario one)

 

I figured an example would be more useful! Thanks!

[bloh]

When you apply for student loans, a portion of that ends up being a "grant". It's usually 1000-2000$ and that's the part that acts as a gift and doesn't need to be repaid. It's not a whole lot given that you borrow like 10-15k each year from the province.