Ottawa Expands Student Loan Forgiveness to Young Professionals Relocating to Rural Communities

Next to a shelf with boxes of Doliprane, Advil, Actifed, Humex, Fervex and Nurofen, a pharmacist in a white smock gives medicines to a customer in a pharmacy in a file photo. Nicolas Guyonnet/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

Pharmacists, midwives, teachers, and other health care and social service graduates who choose to work in remote communities will soon qualify for student loan forgiveness under proposed federal regulations.

The proposed amendments to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations and the Canada Student Loans Regulations aim to incentivize more than 27,800 health care and social service professionals over the next 10 years to relocate and serve in rural or remote communities, the Department of Employment said.

The new rules would take effect on Nov. 1, the department wrote in the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement, published in the Canada Gazette on Feb. 15 and first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

This expansion builds on the federal government’s Canada Student Loan forgiveness program introduced in 2013, which focused on incentivizing family physicians and nurse practitioners to relocate and work in rural areas. While the program has helped many rural communities, the department noted that it did not fully address gaps in other health care and social services.

Under the current system, loan forgiveness is divided into two groups: family physicians in Group 1 and nurses in Group 2. The proposed amendments will create a third group and extend the benefit to 10 additional health care and social service occupations: early childhood educators, dentists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, midwives, teachers, social workers, personal support workers, physiotherapists, and psychologists.

Loan forgiveness amounts will vary by profession: up to $60,000 over five years for dentists, pharmacists, and psychologists; $30,000 for midwives, physiotherapists, teachers, and social workers; and $15,000 for dental hygienists, early childhood educators, and personal support workers.

The loan forgiveness amounts vary based on the years of post-secondary education required and resulting student debt, “based on the most common post-secondary educational requirements for each occupation,” the department said.

The department highlighted a positive net impact from the amendments, estimating a total benefit of $944.1 million over 10 years, with costs projected at $653.8 million. This would result in a net gain of $290.3 million.

“The regulatory amendments would positively impact rural and remote communities by providing increased access to health care and social service providers, which in turn may result in improved health and social outcomes for the rural population,” the department said, noting that rural and remote residents tend to have lower incomes, be older, and experience worse health outcomes.

The existing program for family doctors and nurses offers up to $60,000 in loan forgiveness for doctors and $30,000 for registered nurses practicing in rural Canada. A previous evaluation of the program reported it had attracted 17,921 doctors and nurses to rural practices, with $172.2 million in loan forgiveness granted as of March 2022.