Student Loan Forgiveness in Canada: Every Federal and Provincial Program

Federal loan forgiveness goes to borrowers who work in eligible occupations in eligible communities, and the other programs below are targeted too, each with its own rules:

Canada Student Loan Forgiveness does not apply to private loans, such as a bank student line of credit, or to loans converted to a line of credit. It also does not apply to the provincial or territorial part of a loan.

Federal forgiveness for doctors, nurses and other professionals

The Canada Student Loan Forgiveness program reduces the federal part of your loan for each year you work in an eligible occupation in an eligible community. Since December 31, 2025 it covers 17 occupations:

Eligible communities. Since November 6, 2024, an eligible community is a rural area or a population centre of no more than 30,000 people. For doctors and nurses, the earlier definition (outside metropolitan areas, provincial capitals and areas with an urban core of 50,000 or more) stays in place until after the 2026 census. The federal eligibility page links to a postal code lookup to check a community.

Eligibility. You need to have worked in the occupation for a full year (12 consecutive months; 10 for early childhood educators, psychologists, social workers and teachers working in a school; the full-year rule does not apply to residents in family medicine), provided at least 400 hours of in-person service in eligible communities, held the licence your occupation requires, and kept your loan in good standing. Your five years don’t have to be consecutive, and you can apply while in school or in the six-month non-repayment period as well as in repayment.

Applying. After each year of service you have 90 days to apply, online through your NSLSC account or by mail with an employment attestation, and you reapply every year. The forgiveness reduces the principal at the end of each year of service; you keep making payments in the meantime.

What it doesn’t cover. The provincial or territorial part of your loan, loans converted to a line of credit, private loans, and Ontario Medical Resident Loans. (Source: canada.ca, Canada Student Loan Forgiveness.) Provincial programs below can cover the provincial part, and some can be combined with the federal program.

Disability

Severe Permanent Disability Benefit. If a severe permanent disability prevents you from doing the daily activities needed for substantially gainful employment and will last the rest of your life, your government student loans can be cancelled. A physician or nurse practitioner completes the medical assessment that comes with the application. (Source: NSLSC, Severe Permanent Disability Benefit.)

Repayment Assistance Plan for Borrowers with Disabilities (RAP-D). For borrowers with a permanent, persistent or prolonged disability who qualify for RAP, RAP-D sets a reduced payment, can reduce it further for disability-related expenses, and has the government pay down both the principal and any interest the payment doesn’t cover, so repayment in most cases ends within 10 years. Its thresholds and how to apply are on the Repayment Assistance Plan guide.

The Repayment Assistance Plan’s end point

The Repayment Assistance Plan isn’t forgiveness in itself: it lowers payments, to $0 below an income threshold, while the government pays the interest the payment doesn’t cover on the federal part of the loan. After 60 months on RAP or 10 years out of school the government also pays down principal, which together means that, in most cases, a borrower who stays eligible is in repayment for no more than 15 years after leaving school. The thresholds, payment cap, Ontario’s provincial plan and how to apply are all in the Repayment Assistance Plan guide.

Death of the borrower

Government student loans don’t pass to the borrower’s family. The estate or next of kin contacts the NSLSC to have the Canada Student Loans forgiven; in Quebec, the Ministère de l’Éducation is the office to inform of a death.

Provincial forgiveness programs

Some provinces and territories also offer loan forgiveness of their own, for the provincial part of the loan. Each province’s guide has the full details and sources.

Ontario

Ontario’s programs target health care. The Resident Loan Interest Relief Program lets Ontario medical residents stop paying principal and interest on government student loans from any Canadian province during residency, in return for agreeing to provide physician services in Ontario for five years after residency. The Ontario Learn and Stay Grant pays tuition, books and other educational costs for students in priority health programs (nursing, paramedicine, medical laboratory technology or science) who commit to working in the region where they studied, and its Medical Education stream, starting in fall 2026, covers the undergraduate medical education costs of family medicine residents who agree to practise family medicine in Ontario for at least five years. The Tuition Support Program for Nurses reimburses tuition for new nursing graduates from rural and remote communities who complete a return of service in an underserved community. (Sources: ontario.ca, Resident Loan Interest Relief Program; ontario.ca, Ontario Learn and Stay Grant; ontario.ca, Learn and Stay Grant for Medical Education; ontario.ca, Tuition Support Program for Nurses.)

For Ontario borrowers who can’t afford payments, the provincial Repayment Assistance Plan means the debt is eliminated within a maximum of 15 years of leaving school. How OSAP works is in the OSAP guide.

British Columbia

BC can cancel the whole B.C. portion over five years of work in a listed health occupation in an underserved community, or in some occupations working with children. Occupations, communities and conditions are on the BC student loans page.

Nova Scotia

The Nova Scotia Loan Forgiveness Program forgives the provincial loan of students who finish a first non-professional degree at a Nova Scotia university within eight years (up to five years of forgiveness, up to $20,400) or a first certificate or diploma within four years. It is assessed automatically at graduation. See Nova Scotia student loans.

Newfoundland and Labrador

The Debt Reduction Grant can convert up to the whole provincial loan into a grant for graduates of eligible programs who passed at least 80% of a full course load each period; you must notify StudentAidNL of your graduation within two years. Graduates of an approved early childhood education program in the province can also have their provincial loan converted to a grant if they meet its other requirements, including 24 months of full-time child-care work in the province. See Newfoundland and Labrador student loans.

Prince Edward Island

The Debt Reduction Grant can help reduce the provincial loan balance of graduates who have lived on the Island for at least six months before applying, with the application due within three years of graduation. See PEI student loans.

Quebec

Quebec’s Loan Remission Program reduces the loan for a program by 15% for full-time students who finish on time and received a bursary in every year of the program. See Quebec student loans.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan forgives part of the provincial loan for nurses and nurse practitioners, and for veterinarians and veterinary technologists, who work in designated communities, and its Graduate Retention Program rebates tuition through the provincial income tax system for graduates who live in the province (a tax rebate, not a reduction of the loan). See Saskatchewan student loans.

Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick

Manitoba’s former Tuition Fee Income Tax Rebate ended with the 2018 tax year. Their guides cover the repayment help each offers: Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick.

Student loans in bankruptcy

Bankruptcy can discharge government student loans only if you stopped being a student at least seven years before filing; a court can grant an earlier discharge on hardship grounds after five years. The rules, and how a consumer proposal treats student debt, are in what happens if you can’t pay your student loan, and bankruptcy itself in the insolvency guide.

Is broad forgiveness coming?

No federal or provincial government has announced a program that cancels student debt for all borrowers. The available routes are needs-based (the Repayment Assistance Plan), tied to occupation and location (federal and provincial programs), tied to finishing on time or staying in a province (provincial debt reduction and remission), or tied to disability and death. A borrower waiting for broad forgiveness still has payments due, and missed payments lead to default; the other options for lowering payments are in how to pay off student loans. Every student loan guide is listed on the student loans hub.