Vol. 148, No. 11 — May 21, 2014

Registration

SOR/2014-100 May 2, 2014

CANADA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE ACT

Regulations Amending the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations

P.C. 2014-479 May 1, 2014

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Employment and Social Development, 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 Schedule 3 set out in the schedule to these Regulations.

COMING INTO FORCE

2. These Regulations come into force on August 1, 2014.

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, 2013 ($)

Province

Family Size

ON

NS

NB

MB

BC

PE

SK

AB

NL

YT
1 person 23 883 20 610 20 529 24 167 23 647 20 645 20 671 23 978 20 712 24 049
2 persons 29 734 25 657 25 556 30 088 29 440 25 700 25 733 29 852 25 784 29 940
3 persons 36 555 31 542 31 417 36 989 36 193 31 596 31 636 36 700 31 698 36 808
4 persons 44 381 38 297 38 146 44 909 43 942 38 362 38 411 44 557 38 486 44 689
5 persons 50 337 43 435 43 263 50 935 49 839 43 509 43 564 50 537 43 650 50 686
6 persons 56 771 48 989 48 795 57 446 56 209 49 071 49 134 56 996 49 231 57 165
7 or more 63 207 54 541 54 325 63 958 62 581 54 633 54 702 63 457 54 810 63 645
Table 2
Middle-income Thresholds, 2013 ($)

Province

Family Size

ON

NS

NB

MB

BC

PE

SK

AB

NL

YT
1 person 43 184 37 895 33 184 37 338 41 032 34 825 36 685 46 283 33 377 45 181
2 persons 60 458 53 054 46 459 52 272 57 447 48 754 51 359 64 796 46 729 63 253
3 persons 75 056 66 016 57 652 65 466 74 631 61 981 64 328 77 664 58 382 74 343
4 persons 85 415 75 207 65 597 74 826 86 818 71 369 73 522 86 787 67 478 82 213
5 persons 93 455 82 340 71 758 82 091 96 270 78 646 80 655 93 873 74 529 88 316
6 persons 100 014 88 171 76 789 88 028 103 996 84 596 86 489 99 656 80 294 93 312
7 or more 105 570 93 098 81 047 93 044 110 529 89 621 91 416 104 548 85 166 97 525

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

The Canada Student Grant Program (CSGP) improves access to post-secondary education through the provision of non-repayable financial assistance to eligible low-income (LI) and medium-income (MI) Canadian students. The income eligibility thresholds below which a student is deemed to have a LI or MI are set out, by province, in Schedule 3 of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations.

Without annual adjustments to account for inflation, the real value of the income eligibility thresholds would decrease, and eligibility for Canada Student Grants (CSG) and part-time Canada Student Loans (PT-CSL) would become more restrictive. As a result,

Background

Introduced in August 2009, the CSGP was 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 Canada Student Loan (CSL) recipients. Participating provinces (all provinces except Quebec) and one territory (Yukon) as well as the federal service provider (Davis and Henderson), administer CSLs and CSGs.

The low-income and the middle-income grants provide qualified students with $250 and $100, respectively, in non-repayable assistance per month of full-time study; the Canada Student Grant for Students with Dependants (CSG-DEP) provides qualifying students with $200 in non-repayable assistance per dependant (under the age of 12), per month of full-time study; the Canada Student Grant for Part-time Students (CSG-PT) provides up to $1,200 per loan year (August 1 to July 31); and the Canada Student Grant for Part-time Students with Dependants (CSG-PTDEP) provides between $40 and $60 per week of part-time study, up to a maximum of $1,920 per loan year.

The Regulations stipulate that

The income eligibility thresholds have been amended on three occasions since the grants were introduced, to account for inflation.

Objectives

The objective of the amendments to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations is to update the income eligibility thresholds to account for inflation, and ensure that eligibility for CSGs and PT-CSLs takes into consideration student real income.

Description

The amendments will increase the low-income and middle-income eligibility thresholds stated in Schedule 3 of the Regulations to reflect growth in the relevant provincial Consumer Price Indices (CPI) between December 2012 and December 2013 (a period during which the overall Canadian CPI grew by 0.9%).

“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 program participants, as well as student and education stakeholder groups, were consulted during the development and implementation of the CSGP in 2008 and 2009. These partners and stakeholder groups are supportive of the use of a proxy such as the CPI to keep income eligibility thresholds up to date. Given that the amendments are consistent with the original intent of the CSGP, and maintain the existing level of access to grants and loans, no additional consultations were required.

Rationale

The amendments would ensure that eligibility for CSGs and PT-CSL takes into account inflation, ensuring that low- and middle-income students continue to have access to grants, and that part-time students retain access to part-time Canada Student Loans, to support their pursuit of post-secondary education.

Although the amendments do not impact the value of individual grants and loans, approximately 425 students are expected to be impacted by the amendments, through retained eligibility, with a cost to the federal government of $395,000 per year.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

The amendments will take effect on August 1, 2014, in time for the 2014–15 school year. Provincial and territorial participants will be made aware of the amended income eligibility thresholds prior to 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 and service standard activities are anticipated.

Contact

Atiq Rahman
Director
Operational Policy and Research
Canada Student Loans Program
Learning Branch
Employment and Social Development Canada
200 Montcalm Street, Tower II, 1st Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0J9
Telephone: 819-994-4518
Fax: 819-953-6661
Email: atiqur.rahman@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca