Maintaining Your Eligibility

Your school determines what a full course load is for each term or semester of each study period in your program of study. For each term or semester of your study period you must successfully complete, according to your school's criteria, at least 60 per cent of a full course load. This means that if you are enrolled in only 60 per cent of a full course load in the first place, you must pass all of your classes to achieve successful completion. If you are a student with a permanent disability, the successful completion requirement is reduced to 40 per cent of a full course load. Each time you achieve this standard, your study period is considered "successful."

If you do not achieve this standard, your study period is considered "unsuccessful"; there may be several reasons, including:

After one unsuccessful period, you'll be placed on probation but will continue to be eligible for student assistance. However, after two unsuccessful periods of study you'll lose your eligibility for student assistance for a minimum of 12 months, and after three unsuccessful periods of study you'll lose your eligibility for student assistance for a minimum of 36 months. During these periods of ineligibility you must maintain your student loans in good standing if you want to regain your eligibility in the future.

You must maintain regular attendance at all times.

You must not miss more than 10 per cent of your classes in two calendar months of your study period unless due to documented medical reasons. If your attendance drops below 90 per cent, you will be discontinued for student loan purposes and your study period will be considered unsuccessful.

If you miss school for more than three consecutive weeks (21 calendar days), regardless of the reason, you will be considered discontinued for student loan purposes and your study period will be considered unsuccessful.

You must complete your studies within the required eligibility periods. Once you reach these maximums, you are considered ineligible for further student assistance.

For each level of study you undertake, you are eligible for student assistance for the normal duration of the program plus one additional year. Students with permanent disabilities are exempt from this requirement.

The lifetime maximum period for which you may receive student assistance is 340 weeks of study. If you eventually study at the doctoral level, the lifetime maximum is increased to 400 weeks. Students with permanent disabilities may receive assistance for up to 520 weeks.

Dealing with Overpayments

An overpayment is an amount of student assistance you receive for which you are not eligible. It results from your application being reassessed downward due to a change in your circumstances. For example, you might be assessed with an overpayment because you discontinued your studies during a study period, your income increased, or an audit of your application uncovered inaccurate information on your application.

Overpayment amounts over $250 are deducted from your future student assistance awarded under the program. In addition, overpayment amounts are not eligible for any debt reduction benefits.