A few days ago we saw the 1-year pause on Canada’s federal student loan interest kick in on the NSLSC.

Here’s a thread breaking down how much “relief” it will actually offer to Canadians. #cdnpoli

1. The Interest pause applies to the federal portion of your loan only. For provinces like Ontario, New Brunswick, and Alberta, you aren’t getting interest relief on the provincial portion of your loan, like @AliTejani1. https://twitter.com/AliTejani1/status/1379258606634295297?s=20

2. Monthly payments are NOT paused, even though much of the country is entering into deeper economic shutdown/lockdown.

Monthly payments can range anywhere from $200-$800.

3. A one year pause is not much when you consider the average time to pay off loans is 9.5 years. For a loan of $26K, this amounts to $7600 over that period.

... why we still charge interest on student loans at all is a whole other subject.

https://tools.canlearn.ca/cslgs-scpse/cln-cln/crp-lrc/calculer-calculate-eng.do

4. The interest pause was announced days after the HoC voted unanimously in favour of extending the loan freeze to May 2021. Not only did they backtrack on their freeze promise, they made us wait FIVE MONTHS for this interest “relief” to kick in.

https://twitter.com/HMcPhersonMP/status/1333527738771271687?s=20

5. Let’s also remember that the Class of 2020 (and soon to be 2021) were excluded from the loan freeze, despite being among the hardest hit by COVID-19 since the first round of lockdowns.

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00063-eng.htm

6. The NSLSC is still plagued with technical issues--double payments, erroneous charges, inability to reach their support centre etc. Seriously just search “NSLSC” on twitter and look through the horror stories.

7. Let’s also consider the fact that Bill C-14 is still subject to parliament’s approval, but the government had the power to implement the interest pause anyway.

So why won’t @CQualtro @JustinTrudeau do the same for a loan freeze? https://twitter.com/AliTejani1/status/1379259495600304135?s=20

A 1-year pause on Canada’s student loan interest as a form of COVID-19 relief doesn’t measure up to the actual relief Canadians need right now.

Freezing student loans AND interest must be the bare minimum.