Your obligations as a Student Assistance borrower

When you apply for government funding to pay for school, you agree to certain Terms and Conditions.

The Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement is your legal agreement to borrow, use and repay loan and grant funding from Employment and Social Development Canada, which delivers the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program.

When you click “Agree” on the Terms and Conditions page while completing your student loan application, you form a legal agreement with the Province of Nova Scotia to borrow, use and and repay NS Student Loans and Grants.

It is our job to make school more accessible for Nova Scotians, but we can only help school remain accessible to you if you do your job - stay eligible for Student Assistance programs.

• Keep your enrollment information accurate and current: This means your course load and your school program. We can’t give you funding when the enrollment details in your Student Assistance file don’t match your school’s record of your courses and program.

• This includes letting us know if you withdraw from study.

• Keep your bank information current: You submit bank information separately to both the National Student Loan Service Centre and Resolve and the Nova Scotia Student Assistance office in order to protect your privacy. You need to update BOTH if your bank information changes.

• Keep your contact information up to date with NS Student Assistance, Resolve, and NSLSC.

• Keep your costs/resources information current: You need to let the Student Assistance office know of any changes in your income, your family income, your course load and your address. Incorrect or outdated information can result in overawards, processing delays, or auditing of your file.

• Satisfactory Scholastic Standard: You must successfully complete 60% of a full course load each year (40% for students with disabilities). If you fail to meet this criteria, you will be placed on probation (warning) for the purposes of borrowing any more money. The second time this happens, you will be suspended from receiving student loans or grants for 12 consecutive months. A third time and you will be suspended from our programs for 36 months.

• Monitor your student assistance file on MyPATH, respond to our emails and letters, keep your mailing address current and know your deadlines. We can’t process incomplete applications, and we can’t issue fundng after deadlines have passed.

• Maintain your Interest-Free status: If you will be attending school full-time but not using student assistance this year, you must let us know that you are still a full-time student. If you don’t, we’ll assume you have left school and we’ll start to process your file as though you are about to start repaying your loans. This could mean you are assessed interest on your loan(s).

  If you return to school full-time after being away for a while, you can stop interest charges and stop making payments on any government student loans that you already have. You don’t have to apply for or receive a new student loan, you just have to tell us you’re a full-time student again. Here’s how:

  • PRINT & MAIL: Print and complete a Schedule 2 (Confirmation of Enrollment) PDF form from the forms section of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program website. After your school completes their section, forward it to the National Student Loans Service Centre (NSLSC).
  • NSLSC’s PORTAL for SCHOOLS: If your school uses the NSLSC’s online portal, they can log in to the portal and submit your Schedule 2 (Confirmation of Enrollment) details directly to NSLSC on your behalf.