Manitoba Student Loans: Manitoba Student Aid and the Bursary

Manitoba student loans are interest-free. Manitoba Student Aid, the provincial program, lends through the Manitoba Student Loan, and that loan charges no interest while you study or after you leave school. The federal Canada Student Loan has charged 0% interest since April 1, 2023. Manitoba announced in November 2014 that it would eliminate provincial interest on all Manitoba student loans, and Manitoba Student Aid’s current guidance is that Manitoba Student Loans continue to be interest-free. The student loans hub compares that with the interest rules in the other provinces.

One Manitoba Student Aid application assesses you for both governments’ loans and grants and for the Manitoba Bursary, the province’s own non-repayable aid. The two loans are combined into one Canada-Manitoba Integrated Student Loan, repaid through a single federal account.

What Manitoba Student Aid offers

Manitoba Student Aid automatically assesses full-time applicants for:

• The Manitoba Bursary: provincial money you don’t repay. Every applicant is considered for it, and Indigenous learners who self-identify may be eligible for additional bursary funding (the Top-Up for Indigenous Students).
• The Manitoba Student Loan: up to $200 per week of study, raised from $140 in 2022-23.
• The Canada Student Loan: up to $300 per week of study for full-time students.
• The federal grants: the Canada Student Grants for full-time students, students with dependants and students with disabilities. The full-time grant pays up to $4,200 for 2026-27; the Canada Student Grant guide explains each one and who qualifies.

The two weekly loan maximums add up to $500 per week of study, so a student registered for the fall and winter terms (34 weeks) can receive up to $17,000 in loans. The Manitoba Bursary has no set amount: grants, bursaries and loans are awarded from an assessment of your costs against what you and your family are expected to contribute, and the provincial student grants guide compares the bursary with other provinces’ grants.

Students who don’t want to borrow can choose the Canada Student Grants Only Option on a full-time application. It pays the federal grants you qualify for without any loan. If your finances change during the year, you can ask for a reassessment to be considered for the loans and the Manitoba Bursary, although a reassessment can delay processing and nothing can be paid after your study period ends.

Separately, through the Manitoba Scholarship and Bursary Initiative the province matches many of the private donations schools receive for student awards, at one government dollar for every two private dollars. Each school turns that money into its own scholarships, grants and bursaries, so you find out about them from your school, not Manitoba Student Aid.

Studying outside Manitoba

Manitoba Student Aid has narrowed what it funds outside the province:

• Manitoba Student Loans aren’t available for most private institutions outside Manitoba, or for any institution outside Canada, public or private. Students at public institutions elsewhere in Canada, and at public or private institutions in Manitoba, remain eligible.
• The Manitoba Bursary, including the Top-Up for Indigenous Students, isn’t available to students at public institutions outside Manitoba.

Exceptions can apply for programs under the Manitoba-Minnesota Reciprocity Agreement and interprovincial or international training agreements, and an institution or student can ask for an exception when the program isn’t offered in Manitoba and Manitoba needs workers in that field. The federal government has made its own change: from August 1, 2026, most students at private for-profit institutions in Canada lose the Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students, though Canada Student Loans and the other federal grants stay available.

Who qualifies

To get Manitoba Student Aid, you must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person, and a Manitoba resident. You count as a Manitoba resident if you’ve lived in Manitoba for the last 12 consecutive months before your study period, not counting time spent in post-secondary studies; a newcomer counts as a resident if Manitoba is the province where they first landed. International students don’t qualify.

Your school and program must be designated by Manitoba Student Aid, and the program must lead to a certificate, diploma or degree. If yours isn’t designated, the institution has to apply for designation, which can take up to four weeks.

Course load decides whether you apply as a full-time or part-time student:

Full-time students are funded for the normal length of their program plus one extra year, up to a lifetime maximum of 340 weeks of assistance (400 weeks in doctoral studies and 520 weeks with a verified permanent or persistent or prolonged disability). Part-time students can hold up to $10,000 in part-time loans and can borrow again as they pay that down. How your family’s income enters the assessment, and when you count as independent of your parents, follows the national rules described in the OSAP guide.

Applying and deadlines

Applications for the fall and winter terms normally open in June, and a full-time application is made online through the Manitoba Student Aid portal; part-time students use a paper application. You can apply before your school has accepted you, as long as you know the school, the program and its start and end dates. You need a separate application for each school year.

The deadline that matters most is late in the year, not at the start: you must submit all required information no later than 45 days before your study period ends, and Manitoba Student Aid can’t release any funds after your study period end date. Processing can take up to six weeks or longer at peak times. For programs of 17 weeks or less, Manitoba Student Aid pays the full amount at the start of the study period.

Repaying a Manitoba student loan

Payments on both the Canada Student Loan and the Manitoba Student Loan start six months after you stop going to school full-time. Since July 1, 2023, the National Student Loans Service Centre (NSLSC) has handled disbursement and repayment of Manitoba Student Loans, and Manitoba Student Aid no longer accepts payments. Applications, reassessments and funding appeals still go to Manitoba Student Aid. The NSLSC guide covers the account where you see both balances and set up payments.

With neither portion charging interest, payments go toward principal, apart from any Canada loan interest that built up before April 1, 2023. You can pay toward either loan while still in school. If you return to full-time studies without getting a loan that year, tell the NSLSC to keep the integrated loan payment-free. The student loan repayment calculator shows how the monthly payment changes with the repayment term, and the guide to paying off student loans covers paying ahead.

If payments become unaffordable, the Repayment Assistance Plan can lower or pause them, applied for through the NSLSC. Manitoba considers a student loan in default after nine missed monthly payments; a claim is then registered with the CRA to take future tax refunds and GST payments until the loan is paid or rehabilitated, and you can’t get further student aid while the claim stands. The guide to what happens if you can’t pay a student loan explains default, rehabilitation and how bankruptcy treats student loans.

The tuition rebate no longer exists

Older guides describe Manitoba’s Tuition Fee Income Tax Rebate, which returned part of a graduate’s tuition through the provincial tax return. Manitoba began phasing it out in its 2017 budget and eliminated it for the 2018 tax year; no rebate credits are claimable, and any unclaimed credits lapsed. The advance rebate for current students ended for school terms beginning after April 2017. Tuition paid in Manitoba still counts toward the federal tuition tax credit.

Contacting Manitoba Student Aid

• Manitoba Student Aid: 204-945-6321, or 1-800-204-1685 toll-free in Canada and the US, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central. The office is at 401-1181 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, and documents that don’t need an ink signature can be emailed.
• NSLSC (repaying the integrated loan): 1-888-815-4514.

For what school costs before any aid, see how much university costs in Canada.