The Repayment Assistance Plan: when payments become affordable

The south entrance of a university mall building. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

The Repayment Assistance Plan, RAP, is the federal safety net for borrowers who cannot afford their regular student loan payment. It does not erase your loan. It recalculates what you must pay each month from your family income and family size, and it can reduce that payment to zero. If you are struggling, RAP is the first door to knock on — before you miss payments, not after.

Who can apply

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You may qualify for RAP if you live in Canada — or are a reservist or the spouse of a reservist deployed abroad, or on an international internship of a year or less — your loans are in repayment, meaning at least six months have passed since you graduated or left school, and you are up to date on your loan payments. You can apply as soon as you start repaying and at any time while you are in repayment. Approval lasts six months, and you must reapply every six months to stay on the plan. That reapplication cycle is the part people most often forget: RAP does not renew itself, and a missed reapplication returns you to your regular payment.

The zero-payment thresholds

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If your monthly gross family income is below the threshold for your family size, you may not need to make any payment for the six-month period. The thresholds below are those published on Canada.ca's RAP pages at the time of writing; they are adjusted over time, and the provincial portion of your loan may have different thresholds, so confirm the current figures before applying. If your income is above the threshold, you may still qualify for a reduced payment — the threshold is the zero-payment line, not the eligibility line.

Item	What it means	Why it matters
Family size 1	$3,866 per month	About $46,392 per year
Family size 2	$4,535 per month	About $54,420 per year
Family size 3	$5,556 per month	About $66,672 per year
Family size 4	$6,412 per month	About $76,944 per year
Family size 5	$7,170 per month	About $86,040 per year
Family size 6	$7,854 per month	About $94,248 per year
Family size 7 or more	$8,483 per month	About $101,796 per year

The annual figures in the right-hand column are the monthly thresholds multiplied by twelve, and they match the annualized thresholds published by provincial student aid offices for the same cycle. Use the monthly figure for your application, since RAP assesses monthly gross family income, and remember that family size means the people in your household for RAP purposes, not just the number of people you support financially.

What the government pays while you are on RAP

If you are approved, the Government of Canada pays any interest owing on the federal part of your loan that your reduced payment does not cover. After 60 months on RAP, or 10 years after you finish school, it also starts paying down both principal and any remaining interest. As long as you stay eligible, your balance keeps being paid down until it is paid in full. The maximum time a borrower can be in repayment after leaving school is 15 years in most cases, and 10 years for borrowers with a disability under RAP-D, the Repayment Assistance Plan for Borrowers with Disabilities, under which the government pays down principal and interest your reduced payments do not cover from the start.

Watch out. Returning to school after the government has paid toward your principal on RAP has a consequence: you generally cannot receive more student grants or loans until the unpaid loans are repaid, though you do not need to make payments on existing loans while you are back in school. This restriction does not apply to RAP-D. Check the rule before you re-enrol.

RAP also interacts with your provincial loan. In integrated provinces, the NSLSC administers the combined loan, but provincial RAP rules and thresholds can differ. Students with loans from Prince Edward Island must also apply for repayment assistance with their province. Wherever you are, apply through the NSLSC and confirm with your provincial or territorial student aid office whether a separate provincial application is needed — one application does not always cover both portions.

Sources: Canada.ca, Repayment Assistance Plan page (eligibility, six-month reapplication, government interest and principal payments, 15-year and 10-year maxima, return-to-school rule); Canada.ca, RAP eligibility page (monthly gross family income thresholds by family size); Nova Scotia Student Assistance, Repayment Assistance page (annualized thresholds).

General information only. This page explains Canada's federal student financial assistance in plain English. It is not legal, financial, or medical advice, and it cannot decide whether you qualify for any grant or loan. Only your provincial or territorial student aid office and the National Student Loans Service Centre can decide an application. Amounts, thresholds, and rules change from year to year, so always confirm the current position with your provincial or territorial student aid office before you act on it. Contact: hello [at] tapetoolhq.com.