Regaining Eligibility

You may be ineligible for education assistance for several reasons. The following sections provide information on how to regain eligibility if you have an overpayment or have had your education assistance suspended due to withdrawal or academic performance. 

Overpayments:

An overpayment is any education assistance payment or expenditure for which you were not eligible. An overpayment must be reimbursed to the GRPSEO before a student is considered eligible for funding. For continuing successful students, payment can be made through deductions from approved student allowance and/or book assistance. An overpayment must be cleared before you will be considered for funding of your next application.
An overpayment can occur in any type of assistance. In the following, is a brief summary of how an overpayment can occur.

Tuition:
Any course that is not successfully completed or does not result in credit for the student’s diploma or degree is considered a failure. The tuition cost and associated student fees for such a course (for which you received assistance) become an automatic overpayment. 

Books:
Books and supply costs will be established as an overpayment:  if you fail to submit marks; have failed all courses in an academic semester, or withdrawn from studies.  

Education Allowance:
If you fail to maintain your full time status as defined by the post secondary institution and the GRPSEO’s minimum definition of full time study for your level of study - yet continue to receive the monthly allowance for which you are no longer eligible then any education allowance issued to you during this period of ineligibility becomes an overpayment.

Recovering from Academic Suspension/Payment of Overpayments 

In the past, education assistance for students who did not meet the GRPSEO’s minimum academic requirements was automatically suspended. Although the GRPSEO no longer automatically suspends students for failing to meet minimum requirements set by the GRPSEO, a student may in effect suspend him/herself through the accumulation of overpayments for failed courses or by failing out of his/her program of studies.

If, in the past, your education assistance was suspended by the GRPSEO, due to unacceptable academic performance, your next application will automatically be assigned a priority 7 and you will be placed on academic probation but first you will have to make arrangements for paying the overpayment on your file. If your assistance was discontinued because you were ineligible to continue in your program (as determined by the post secondary institution) then you may or may not have an overpayment on your file. You must also be admitted to a program of study for which there is a reasonable expectation of success. You will need to contact your Education Counsellor.

A student who has failed to meet the GRPSEO’s minimum requirements of academic performance has two options for clearing any outstanding overpayments.

• You have the option of making one lump sum payment and receive a 15%  discount to the overpayment if deemed eligible.  An overpayment must be cleared by the start of academic period for the next application for education assistance. To receive an automatic 15% reduction, on the overpayment balance, the final lump sum payment must be received by August 15th.
• Your second option is to self-fund the same number of courses that you failed. These courses must be comparable - that is - they must be at the same academic level and have the same credit value and tuition costs as the failed courses. If you choose this option - you will not be eligible for education assistance of any kind until proof of successful completion of the comparable course(s) is received.

If you choose the second option, that is to self-fund, then you need to be aware of some implications having to do with the priority for your next application.

If you choose to self-fund as a full time student and meet specific standards of success then your application will be a priority 1 for the next consecutive semester of your program.

What are these specific standards? You must meet the academic requirements of the post secondary institution to continue in the program as well as meet the minimum academic standard set by the GRPSEO (See the section on Acceptable Academic Performance).
 
The GRPSEO requires that you be successful, at a minimum, in the same number of courses that you previously failed. The courses must be at the same academic level and have the same credit value and tuition costs as the failed courses.
 
If you choose to self-fund as a part-time student then the priority of your application for the next consecutive semester of your program will depend on whether you are applying for full or part time study.

• If you are applying for education assistance to continue in part time study for the next consecutive semester of your program of study then your application will be a priority 1 (continuing successful part time) provided that you were successful in the same number of self-funded courses that you previously failed and the courses are at the same academic level and have the same credit value and tuition costs.
• If you have self-funded as a part time student and then apply for education assistance for full time study in the next consecutive semester of your program of study then your application will be a priority 4(a) provided you are successful in the same number of self-funded courses that you previously failed and the courses are at the same academic level and have the same credit value and tuition costs.

Fortunately, the accumulation of large overpayments due to failures does not happen often. Be sure to research education programs and institutions carefully and decide on an education plan that is compatible with your interests, skills, abilities and academic strengths. Match this with a strong personal commitment to succeed and you will avoid the stress associated with failures.

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