A recent measure eliminating the interest on federal student and apprentice loans could cost more than the $2.7 billion price tag over the next five years that the Employment Department initially gave to a parliamentary committee, new figures show.
The department wrote in an Inquiry Of Ministry recently tabled in the House of Commons that the government charged nearly $750 million in total federal student loan interest in 2019—the year before the pandemic hit—and collected about $415 million, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
The government suspended interest charges and collection in early 2020 as a pandemic-relief measure.
In Bill C-32, passed into law on Dec. 15 and titled “An Act To Implement Certain Provisions Of The Fall Economic Statement,” the government dropped future interest charges on the federal portions of all Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans….