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Part II .

Regulations are amended frequently.

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Direct Student Loan Regulations

made under

Section 81 of the

Finance Act

S.N.S. 2010, c. 2

O.I.C. 2008-404 (effective August 1, 2008), N.S. Reg. 342/2008

amended to O.I.C. 2022-259 (effective October 18, 2022), N.S. Reg. 234/2022

Table of Contents

Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.

Click here to go to the text of the regulations .

Citation

Definitions

Eligibility requirements for designated educational program

Application for designation as designated educational institution

Eligibility for student loan

Application for student loan

Minister may declare qualifying student ineligible

Student loan for single period of study

Student loan agreement

Purposes of student loan

Interest-free status

Borrower must notify Minister of change

Minister may require verification

Minister may reassess student loan application

Minister may terminate interest-free status or require repayment

Borrower must repay amount refunded

Appeal to Nova Scotia Student Aid Appeal Committee

Schedule A

Citation

1 These regulations may be cited as the Direct Student Loan Regulations .

Definitions

2 In these regulations,

(a) “Act” means the Finance Act , unless the context indicates otherwise;

(b) “borrower” means a qualifying student to whom a student loan is awarded;

(c) “designated educational institution” means an educational institution that is

designated under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act (Canada);

(d) “designated educational program” means an educational program that meets

the eligibility requirements set out in

Section 3 to qualify for student loans;

(e) “educational program” means a set of courses or studies that is considered

by an educational institution to be necessary to obtain a degree, diploma or

certificate from that educational institution;

(f) “full-time student” means a student in a designated educational program

who is enrolled for one of the following:

(

i) at least 60% of a course load recognized by the educational

institution as constituting a full course load,

(ii) at least 40% of a course load recognized by the educational

institution as constituting a full course load, in the case of a student

who has a permanent disability or persistent or prolonged disability,

(iii) at least 20 hours per week in courses offered by a private career

college;

(g) “loan year” means the period from August 1 in one year to July 31 in the

next year;

(h) “Minister” means the Minister of Finance, or any person or persons

authorized by the Minister to act on the Minister’s behalf;

(i) “partner” of a qualifying student means a person

(

i) who is married to the qualifying student,

(ii) who is cohabiting and has cohabited for at least 12 consecutive

months with the qualifying student in a conjugal relationship, or

(iii) who is listed as the qualifying student’s common law partner on the

qualifying student’s most recent income tax return;

(j) “period of study” means a period of study at a designated educational

institution of at least 12 consecutive weeks in a loan year;

(k) “permanent disability” means any impairment, including a physical, mental,

intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment or a

functional limitation that restricts the ability of a person to perform the daily

activities necessary to pursue studies at a post-secondary school level or to

participate in the labour force and that is expected to remain with the person

for the person's expected life;

(ka) “persistent or prolonged disability” means any impairment, including a

physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory

impairment or a functional limitation that restricts the ability of a person to

perform the daily activities necessary to pursue studies at a post-secondary

school level or to participate in the labour force and has lasted, or is

expected to last, for a period of at least 12 months but is not expected to

remain with the person for the person’s expected life;

(l) “qualifying student” means a person who

(

i) is a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or a protected person

within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

(Canada),

(ii) is a resident of the Province as determined in accordance with

Department of Education policies for student loan purposes, and

(iii) is qualified for enrolment or is enrolled at a designated educational

program;

(m) “student loan” means money loaned to a borrower by the Minister under

Section 80 of the Act and these regulations;

(n) “student loan agreement” means an agreement under

Section 9 between the

Minister and a borrower for the grant of a student loan.

Eligibility requirements for designated educational program

3 An educational program that meets all of the following requirements is a designated

educational program:

(

a) it must be offered by a designated educational institution;

(

b) it must be of at least 12 consecutive weeks in duration;

(

c) it must be approved by the Minister of Education, or accredited by the

Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission or a national or

international or other agency acceptable to the Minister of Education; and

(

d) its student loan repayment rate must be at a level acceptable to the Minister

of Education.

Application for designation as designated educational institution

(1) A person may apply to the Minister of Education to designate an educational

institution as a designated educational institution.

(2) An application for designation must be in a form approved by the Minister of

Education and contain the information required by the Minister of Education.

Eligibility for student loan

(1) To be eligible for a student loan, a qualifying student must establish, to the

satisfaction of the Minister, that the qualifying student

(

a) is or intends to be enrolled as a full-time student;

(

b) requires financial assistance, taking into account the financial resources

available to the qualifying student;

(

c) has an academic history that the Minister considers acceptable for the

purposes of granting a student loan.

(2) For the purposes of clause (1)(b), the financial resources of the qualifying student’s

parent or partner may be considered to be available to the qualifying student.

Application for student loan

(1) A qualifying student may apply to the Minister for a student loan.

(2) An application for a student loan must be in a form approved by the Minister and

must include

(

a) the qualifying student’s social insurance number; and

(

b) any additional information required by the Minister.

Minister may declare qualifying student ineligible

7 Despite anything else in these regulations, the Minister may declare ineligible for a

student loan a qualifying student who

or misleading information that the Minister considers to materially affect or

have materially affected the person’s eligibility to receive financial

assistance from the Minister;

(

b) fails to provide any information or documentation required by the Minister;

(

c) is enrolled in an educational program that is not acceptable to the Minister.

Student loan for single period of study

8 A student loan must be in respect of a single period of study in a loan year.

Student loan agreement

(1) The Minister may enter into a student loan agreement with a borrower.

(2) A student loan agreement must be in a form approved by the Minister and must

(3) A borrower must do all of the following

(

a) sign a student loan agreement;

(

b) sign any consents, authorizations and certificates required by the Minister;

(

c) provide confirmation to the Minister of the borrower’s enrolment as a full-time student.

(4) A borrower younger than 19 years of age who enters into a student loan agreement

is bound by that agreement, and these regulations apply as if the borrower were of

full age at the time the contractual liability arose.

Purposes of student loan

10 A borrower must use a student loan to pay some or all of the following:

(

a) tuition and other fees required by the designated educational institution;

(

b) the cost of books, materials and supplies to be used in respect of the

designated educational program;

(

c) living and other expenses approved by the Minister.

Interest-free status

11 A borrower is not liable to pay interest and no interest accrues on their student loan

(

a) during any period of study during which the borrower is a full-time student;

(

b) during any subsequent period ending on the last day of the 6-month period

after the borrower ceases to be a full-time student.

Borrower must notify Minister of change

12 A borrower must notify the Minister of any change in the information contained in the

borrower’s student loan application that occurs during the period of study referred to in

the student loan agreement, including

(

a) marital or family status;

(

b) status as a full-time student; and

(

c) financial resources.

Minister may require verification

13 At the request of the Minister, a borrower must provide any information or documents

the Minister requires to verify statements made in the borrower’s student loan

application or in any notice of change of status given by the borrower under

Section 12.

Minister may reassess student loan application

14 The Minister may reassess the student loan application of a qualifying student or a

borrower if

(

a) the Minister receives information about the qualifying student or borrower

that differs from the information provided with respect to the application; or

(

b) an audit of the application reveals to the Minister information about the

qualifying student or borrower that differs from the information provided

with respect to the application.

Minister may terminate interest-free status or require repayment

15 The Minister may terminate a borrower’s interest-free status or require immediate

repayment of a student loan in either of the following circumstances:

(

a) the borrower or the borrower’s parent or partner has provided false or

misleading information or documentation to the Minister;

(

b) the borrower fails to comply with the Act or these regulations.

Borrower must repay amount refunded

16 If a designated educational institution refunds to a borrower all or part of the tuition or

other fees for which the borrower received a student loan, the borrower must pay the

refunded amount as a refund of money to the Province.

Appeal to Nova Scotia Student Aid Appeal Committee

(1) A person who is dissatisfied with an award made with respect to their application

for a student loan may appeal to the Nova Scotia Student Aid Appeal Committee

established under the Student Aid Act .

(2) The Nova Scotia Student Aid Appeal Committee must review each appeal made

under subsection (1) and recommend to the Minister that the award be confirmed,

increased or decreased.

Schedule A

(Section 80 of the Finance Act and

Section 9 of the Direct Student Loan Regulations )

Interest rate: The interest rate applicable to a student loan is either of the

following, at the option of the borrower:

(

a) the prime rate* plus 0.5% per year, or

(

b) the prime rate in effect on the date the borrower is obligated to

begin making payments under the borrower’s student loan

agreement plus 3% per year.

A borrower must give notice in writing to the Minister of the selected

option by no later than the date the borrower is obligated to begin

making payments under the borrower’s student loan agreement.

If the Minister does not receive notice from a borrower of a selected

interest rate option, the borrower is deemed to have selected interest

rate option (

a) above.

Repayment term :The repayment term of a student loan varies according to the principal

amount of the loan. The term is assigned on the date the borrower is

obligated to begin making payments, and is based on the following:

Aggregate Loan

Amount

Repayment Term

$3000.00 or less

36 months

$3000.01 to $6000.00

72 months

greater than $6000.00

114 months

*”Prime rate” means the variable reference rate of interest as calculated by the Minister from

time to time, based upon the variable reference rates of interest declared by the 5 largest

Canadian financial institutions or their successors as their rates for Canadian dollar consumer

loans. The prime rate is calculated by ignoring both the highest and the lowest of those 5 rates

and taking the average of the remaining 3 rates.

Legislative History

Reference Tables

Direct Student Loan Regulations

N.S. Reg.

342/2008

Finance Act

Note: The

information in these tables does not form part of the regulations and is

compiled by the Office of the Registrar of Regulations for reference only.

Source Law

The current consolidation of the Direct Student Loan Regulations made

under the Finance Act includes all of the following

regulations:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

342/2008

Aug 1,

date

specified

Aug

15, 2008

234/2022

Oct 18, 2022

date specified

Nov 4, 2022

The following regulations are not

yet in force and are not included in the current consolidation:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

*See subsection 3(6) of the Regulations Act for

rules about in force dates of regulations.

Amendments by Provision

ad. = added

am. = amended

fc. = fee change

ra. = reassigned

rep. = repealed

rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision affected

How affected

2 (f)(ii) ...............................................

am. 234/2022

2(k) ...................................................

rs. 234/2022

2(ka) .................................................

ad. 234/2022

Note that changes to headings are not

included in the above table.

Editorial Notes and Corrections

Note

Effective

date

Provincial Finance Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 365 repealed

and replaced with the Finance Act, S.N.S. 2010, c. 34 (regulations continued

under new Act).

Aug 1, 2010

Cross-reference to provision of Provincial Finance Act in clause 2(

m) and

Schedule A updated for

regulations as continued under the Finance

Act .

Aug 1, 2010

The reference to the

Department of Education in s. 2(l)(ii) should be read as a reference to the

Department of Labour and Advanced Education in accordance with Order in

Council 2011-15 under the Public Service Act , R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 376.

Jan 11, 2011

References to the Minister

of Education should be read as references to the Minister of Labour and

Advanced Education in accordance with Order in Council 2011-15 under the Public Service Act , R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 376.

Jan 11, 2011

The reference to the Minister of Finance in s. 2(

n) should be read as a reference to the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board

in accordance with Order in Council 2013-348 under the Public Service Act , R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 376.

Oct 22, 2013

The reference to the Minister of Education in clauses 3(

d) and 4(2)

should be read as a reference to the Minister of Advanced Education in accordance with O.I.C. 2021-208 under

the Public Service Act , R.S.N.S.

1989, c. 376.

Aug 31, 2021

The reference to the Department of Education in subclause 2(l)(ii)

should be read as a reference to the Department of Advanced Education in accordance with O.I.C. 2021-208 under

the Public Service Act , R.S.N.S.

1989, c. 376.

Aug 31, 2021

Repealed and Superseded

N.S.

Regulation

Title

In force

date

Repealed

date

Note: Only

regulations that are specifically repealed and replaced appear in this

table. It may not reflect the entire

history of regulations on this subject matter.