Saskatchewan students are seeing benefits from a streamlined administration of student loan program that began this academic year, says the provincial government.
The One-time Signature for Student Loan Consents and Canada Revenue Agency Release replaces the requirement for a student to sign the designated consents, authorizations and agreement forms each year when applying for student financial assistance.
It also includes one-time signatures (if applicable) for parents, guardians/sponsors and spouse (for married students) using the designated forms.
These forms only need to be signed once instead of each time the student applies, unless there is a break in student financial assistance for a period of two or more years.
As of Oct. 31, more than 10,000 loan applications were authorized for the 2014-15 loan year. The value of assistance authorized is about $119 million, of which $72 million is federal assistance and $47 million is provincial.
This is about three per cent higher than the same time last year. The average amount of assistance authorized to individuals is approximately $12,000, which is three per cent higher than the previous year.
This is in addition to other recent changes to the student loan process. These include reducing interest rates to prime from prime plus 2.5 per cent, no longer counting vehicles as a resource when determining loan eligibility and no longer considering part-time employment income while in school.
Approximately 56 per cent of overall Saskatchewan financial assistance to students is non-repayable.
More information on Saskatchewan Student Loans can be found at www.saskatchewan.ca /studentloans or by calling 1-800-597-8278.
