Student loans in British Columbia
StudentAid BC, what the British Columbia half of your loan charges in interest, how the grace period works, and how repayment assistance is assessed.
- NoneInterest on the British Columbia portion
- NoneInterest on the federal portion, since April 2023
- 6 monthsGrace period, interest-free
How the money reaches you
Federal and provincial aid arrive as one integrated loan with one payment through the National Student Loans Service Centre.
The programme is StudentAid BC.
Interest on the provincial half
Eliminated
Eliminated, retroactively, for all current and future borrowers.
Eliminated on 2019-02-19. Interest that accrued before that date is still owed.
Repayment assistance
Aligned with the federal rules since August 2023: the zero-payment floor was raised to $40,000 and indexed, and the maximum payment cut from 20% to 10% of household income. One application, one answer.
Worth knowing
- Both halves of a Canada-BC integrated loan are interest-free, which makes British Columbia one of the few places the blanket claim is actually true.
- Interest that accrued before 19 February 2019 is still owed.
- Weekly provincial maximums are $220 without dependants and $280 with, on top of the $300 federal.
- The B.C. Access Grant pays more to students in programmes under two years ($4,000 per eight-month year) than to those in longer ones ($1,000), which is the opposite of what most people assume.
What it costs to study here
The average Canadian undergraduate in British Columbia paid $6,862.00 in tuition for 2025/2026.
| Field of study | Tuition |
|---|---|
| Dentistry | $33,048.00 |
| Medicine | $20,803.00 |
| Pharmacy | $20,328.00 |
| Law | $14,602.00 |
| Architecture | $7,807.00 |
| Visual and performing arts, and communications technologies | $6,924.00 |
| Engineering | $6,705.00 |
| Business, management and public administration | $6,634.00 |
Sources
- Eliminating interest on B.C. student loans, Government of British Columbia. Checked on . Backs the elimination of provincial interest on 19 February 2019.
- Student financial assistance allowances, 2026/27, StudentAid BC. Checked on . Backs the weekly loan maximums and the B.C. Access Grant amounts.
- B.C. increases student financial aid, eases repayment, Government of British Columbia. Checked on . Backs the August 2023 alignment with the federal repayment assistance rules.
- Repayment Assistance Plan, Employment and Social Development Canada. Checked on . Backs the federal zero-payment monthly income thresholds by family size; the 10% cap on the affordable payment; the six-month application period; the 15-year horizon, and 10 years for a borrower with a disability.
- Pay back OSAP, Government of Ontario. Checked on . Backs Ontario's separate zero-payment thresholds; Ontario's 20% cap on the affordable payment; the Stage 1 and Stage 2 structure; interest on the Ontario portion at prime plus one percent.
- The Repayment Assistance Plan (backgrounder), Employment and Social Development Canada. Checked on . Backs the reduction of the affordable payment cap from 20% to 10% in November 2022.
- Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs survey (record 3123), Statistics Canada. Figures describe 2025/2026. Collected automatically on , so nobody checked this row by hand.
Checked on .