New Brunswick to eliminate provincial student loan interest this week

The New Brunswick government says it will eliminate interest on the provincial portion of its student loans starting Tuesday.

Interest accrued before Nov. 1 will still have to be paid.

The province says the initiative will affect 65,000 existing borrowers, as well as future post-secondary students.

"It feels like it will be a significant amount of stress off me when I start paying that back in the future, I wasn't quite worrying about it just now because I am a first year student, but it's something that's good to know for the future," said Cooper Hovey.

Those repaying a loan of $15,000 over 10 years will save around $4,500, based on the Bank of Canada’s latest interest rates.

“Eliminating the interest on student loans is something student representatives have asked for, and it has always been our intention to do so,” said Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Trevor Holder, in a news release.

“In 2020, we began helping students by lowering the interest rate. Now I am proud to say that we are at a point where we can completely eliminate it. This will make post-secondary education more attractive by reducing the borrowing costs for students,” he added.

The province says several supports are available to assist students with post-secondary costs, including federal and provincial grants, bursaries, loans, and the Repayment Assistance Program.

Students in need of financial support can apply online.