Vol. 150, No. 14 — July 13, 2016

Registration

SOR/2016-198 June 22, 2016

CANADA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE ACT

Regulations Amending the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations

P.C. 2016-625 June 21, 2016

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Labour, pursuant to section 15 (see footnote a) of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act (see footnote b), makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations.

Regulations Amending the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations

Amendment

1 Schedule 3 to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the Schedule 3 set out in the schedule to these Regulations.

Coming into Force

August 1, 2016

2 These Regulations come into force on August 1, 2016, but if they are registered after that day, they come into force on the day on which they are registered.

SCHEDULE

(Section 1)

SCHEDULE 3

(Paragraphs 14.3(b), 38(1)(d), 38.1(1)(e), 38.2(1)(f), 40.02(1)(d) and 40.021(1)(d))

Income Thresholds

TABLE 1

Low-income Thresholds, 2015 ($)

Province

ON

NS

NB

MB

BC

PE

SK

AB

NL

YT

Family Size (number of persons)

  

1

24,747

21,041

20,937

24,921

24,144

20,975

21,512

24,880

21,205

24,362

2

30,811

26,194

26,064

31,027

30,059

26,111

26,781

30,976

26,397

30,329

3

37,878

32,203

32,041

38,143

36,955

32,102

32,924

38,081

32,451

37,287

4

45,987

39,099

38,904

46,310

44,866

38,976

39,975

46,234

39,400

45,270

5

52,159

44,344

44,123

52,524

50,887

44,205

45,338

52,439

44,687

51,345

6

58,827

50,015

49,765

59,238

57,392

49,856

51,134

59,142

50,400

57,908

7 or more

65,495

55,683

55,405

65,953

63,898

55,507

56,929

65,846

56,112

64,472

TABLE 2

Middle-income Thresholds, 2015 ($)

Province

ON

NS

NB

MB

BC

PE

SK

AB

NL

YT

Family Size (number of persons)

  

1

44,751

38,693

33,850

38,504

41,898

35,382

38,166

48,008

34,181

45,768

2

62,652

54,172

47,392

53,904

58,659

49,534

53,433

67,212

47,855

64,075

3

77,779

67,407

58,810

67,511

76,206

62,973

66,926

80,560

59,788

75,309

4

88,515

76,792

66,914

77,163

88,651

72,511

76,492

90,022

69,104

83,282

5

96,846

84,075

73,198

84,655

98,303

79,904

83,912

97,373

76,325

89,464

6

103,643

90,029

78,331

90,777

106,191

85,950

89,982

103,372

82,229

94,525

7 or more

109,401

95,060

82,674

95,950

112,862

91,055

95,108

108,446

87,218

98,793

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

The Low-Income (LI) and Middle-Income (MI) Thresholds set out in Schedule 3 to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations (the Regulations) are used to determine eligibility based on family income, family size and province or territory of residence for Canada Student Grants (CSG) and Part-Time Canada Student Loans (PT-CSL) as follows:

Each year, the LI and MI Thresholds are adjusted according to inflation to ensure that students remain eligible for CSGs and PT-CSLs in the subsequent academic year. Without these annual adjustments, the real value of the LI and MI Thresholds would decrease, and eligibility for CSGs and PT-CSLs would become more restrictive. If the thresholds are not adjusted, approximately 650 students in the 2016–2017 academic year would be affected in the following ways:

Background

The Government of Canada provides CSLs and CSGs to improve access to post-secondary education through the provision of repayable and non-repayable financial assistance to eligible post-secondary students. Introduced in August 2009, CSGs were a Budget 2008 initiative aimed at improving access to post-secondary education by providing more effective grant funding than the previous mix of Canada Study Grants, Canada Access Grants, and Canada Millennium Scholarship Grants that were available to CSL recipients. Participating provinces (all provinces except Quebec) and one territory (Yukon), as well as the private sector service provider D+H, administer CSLs and CSGs.

Since the introduction in 2009, CSG amounts have remained the same. However, Budget 2016 proposed to increase the amount of CSG-LI, CSG-MI and CSG-PT by 50% to ensure students receive student financial assistance that better reflects the rising cost of post-secondary education, and keeps debts loads manageable. A parallel regulatory amendment to the Regulations is implementing the increases to the CSG amounts.

As per the changes introduced by Budget 2016, a student is eligible for one or more of the following CSGs if their family income is below the LI Thresholds, corresponding to his/her family size and province or territory of residence:

A student is eligible for a CSG-MI if their family income falls between the LI and MI Thresholds, corresponding to his/her family size and province or territory of residence. The CSG-MI provides qualified students with $150 in non-repayable assistance per month of full-time study.

Budget 2016 also committed to working with provinces and territories to expand eligibility for CSGs. Going forward, the current LI and MI thresholds would be replaced with a single progressive threshold under which grant amounts would decline based on family income and size. It is expected that the new CSG eligibility thresholds would be implemented for the 2017–2018 academic year.

Objectives

The objective of this amendment is to ensure that CSGs and PT-CSLs continue to target students from LI and MI families. The amendment will also ensure that the LI and MI Thresholds align with inflation so that CSGs and PT-CSLs remain available to LI and MI students to assist with the cost of their post-secondary education.

Description

The amendment will increase the LI and MI Thresholds set out in Schedule 3 to the Regulations to reflect growth in the relevant provincial Consumer Price Indices (CPI) between 2014 and 2015 (a period during which the overall Canadian CPI grew by 1.1%).

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to this proposal, as there is no change in administrative costs to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply to this proposal, as there are no costs to small business.

Consultation

Provincial and territorial participants, as well as student and educational stakeholder groups, were consulted during the development and implementation of the CSGs in 2008 and 2009. These partners and stakeholder groups are supportive of the use of the CPI as a proxy to keep LI and MI Thresholds up to date.

Moving forward, further consultations with provinces and territories will take place to work towards a new single progressive threshold model to expand eligibility for CSGs.

Rationale

The amendment ensures that eligibility for CSGs and PT-CSLs takes into account inflation, ensuring that LI and MI students continue to have access to grants, and that part-time students retain access to PT-CSLs to support their pursuit of post-secondary education.

Although the amendment does not impact the value of individual grants and loans, approximately 650 students are expected to be impacted by the amendment, through retained eligibility, with an estimated cost to the federal government of $550,000 for the 2016–2017 academic year.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

The amendment will come into force on August 1, 2016, in time for the 2016–2017 academic year. Provincial and territorial participants will be made aware of the amended LI and MI Thresholds prior to their coming into force to ensure that these thresholds are considered in their analysis of student financial needs. Given that the amendments are routine in nature, no incremental implementation, enforcement or service standard activities are anticipated.

Contact

Steven Coté
Director
Canada Student Loans Program
Employment and Social Development Canada
200 Montcalm Street, Tower II, 1st Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0J9
Telephone: 819-654-8775
Fax: 819-654-8398
Email: steven.f.cote@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca