How BC Eliminated Student Loan Interest and What Still Costs You Money

Two separate decisions made BC loans interest-free

Your StudentAid BC loan combines two loans into one integrated payment: a BC provincial portion and a federal Canada Student Loan portion, both tracked by the National Student Loans Service Centre. Each government eliminated interest on its own portion separately, not at the same time. BC stopped charging interest on all BC government-issued student loans as of February 19, 2019 . The federal government stopped charging interest on all Canada Student Loans as of April 1, 2023. Since that date, the entire integrated loan, both portions, carries no interest.

What eliminating interest saves you

Before these changes, interest accrued on your balance from the day repayment started, on top of the principal you borrowed. Removing it means your monthly payments go entirely toward the principal you borrowed, so your balance drops faster and your total repayment cost is lower than under the old rules.

Why two different dates instead of one

BC acted first, as its own provincial policy decision, cutting interest on the BC-issued portion in February 2019 while the federal Canada Student Loan portion of the same integrated loan kept accruing interest. That mismatch lasted more than four years, until the federal government made its own decision to eliminate interest on Canada Student Loans in April 2023. If you borrowed and repaid entirely within that gap, only your BC-issued portion was interest-free during that stretch.

What still costs you money

Interest you owed before B.C. or Canada stopped charging it is not forgiven. A balance accruing interest before February 19, 2019, on the provincial side, or before April 1, 2023, on the federal side, still needs to be repaid along with your principal. The elimination applies going forward from those dates, not retroactively to interest already added to your account.

Your repayment timeline hasn't changed

You still start repaying your loan on the 1st day of the 7th month after you finish your last study period, the same 6-month non-repayment window that applied before interest was eliminated. Payments go to the National Student Loans Service Centre. Check your exact balance and payment amount through your NSLSC account.

Default still carries real consequences

Zero interest doesn't mean zero risk. Missing payments for 9 months puts your loan into default. StudentAid BC's guidance on missed payments lists what follows: contact from collection agencies, a negative credit rating that affects your ability to get credit, a mortgage, or a cell phone contract, loss of future income tax refunds, wage garnishment, and liens against property. All repayment activity is reported to the credit bureau regardless of whether interest is being charged.

If you're already struggling with payments

Contact the National Student Loans Service Centre before you miss 9 months of payments, not after. Options include the Repayment Assistance Plan and a Revision of Terms Plan that adjusts your monthly payment amount. Fall into default anyway, and rehabilitation brings your loan back into good standing through one of three routes: paying the full outstanding amount, paying outstanding fees and interest plus two monthly payments, or a single payment covering fees, interest, and two months' worth of payments. You're not eligible for rehabilitation if it's your third default, you're in active bankruptcy proceedings, or your balance is under court-ordered collection.

A note on older, BC-only loans

Most current StudentAid BC borrowers have an integrated loan serviced entirely through the National Student Loans Service Centre. An older BC-only loan serviced separately through Revenue Services of British Columbia still gets the same February 19, 2019 interest elimination, but you contact Revenue Services of British Columbia directly for balance and repayment questions, not the National Student Loans Service Centre.

Checking which portion is which on your account

Your National Student Loans Service Centre account breaks your integrated loan into its federal and provincial components. Log in and review your statement rather than assuming a single total balance tells you everything, especially if you borrowed before 2019 and still carry pre-elimination interest on either portion.

Does this change when you should start repaying

Some borrowers used to make voluntary payments while still studying specifically to reduce interest costs. With both portions now interest-free, an early voluntary payment before your repayment period starts only reduces the principal you owe. It no longer earns you anything in avoided interest the way it once did. There's no interest-based reason to pay ahead of schedule anymore, only the general benefit of a lower balance and a shorter repayment period once it begins.

The bottom line

Interest is gone from both the BC and federal portions of your student loan, permanently, from their respective elimination dates. That removes one major cost. It doesn't remove the loan itself, the repayment schedule, or the consequences of missing payments, all of which work exactly as they did before. Interest-free is not the same as debt-free: budget to repay every dollar you borrowed, on schedule, and treat the interest elimination as a lower total cost rather than a reason to borrow more than you need.