Summary of the Evaluation of the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness for Family Doctors and Nurses Benefit

On this page

• About the program
• Key findings and figures
• Recommendations

About the program

The Canada Student Loan Forgiveness for Family Doctors and Nurses benefit is part of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program. It was developed by the Government of Canada initiative in 2012 to 2013 following the Budget 2011 announcement.

The benefit provides partial student loan forgiveness to eligible healthcare professionals, including family doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners, who practiced in an under-served rural or remote community.

Key findings and figures

Since the benefit’s inception in 2013 to 2014, there have been 17,921 beneficiaries and $172.2 million in loan amount forgiven (up to March 31, 2022).

A low proportion of intended beneficiaries (non-beneficiaries) are aware of the details of the benefit. Additionally, there is varied awareness of the benefit among different professional and student sub-groups.

Since benefit inception, beneficiaries provided services to an increasing number of communities across the country.

Factors other than the benefit, such as debt levels, cost of living, or personal motivations, contribute to influencing the decision to work in designated communities.

Recommendations

The evaluation recommends the benefit should:

• explore outreach opportunities to increase awareness of the benefit among key stakeholders, especially among intended beneficiaries
• explore the development of tools to help consistently measure and monitor the program’s benefit

The full Evaluation of the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness for Family Doctors and Nurses benefit is now available.