There are many other types of sources of funds. The ones listed below are not Financial Aid types:
There are opportunities to work during the summer breaks after the first and second year of the program. The Summer Student Research Program administered by the UBC Faculty of Medicine's Research Office, provides funding opportunities for student research. To find additional information on employment opportunities on campus visit UBC Student Career Services.
Any employment income earned by a student and their spouse, is factored in by government student loan programs to offset a student's costs in determining their government assessed need. This income may reduce the amount received from government student loans or bursaries.
Required Employment Income Contribution - Pre-study Period/Study Period
StudentAid BC is aligning with the Government of Canada in using a "Fixed Student Contribution" (FSC) model to assess eligibility for full-time students. The majority of student and/or spousal asset and income resources during the pre-study and study period will no longer be assessed as resources in the need assessment, and students with lower total family income will have lower expected contributions towards their education costs than those with higher total family incomes.
If a student is married or common-law, their spouse/partner will be expected to contribute toward the family resources unless they are at home caring for dependent children age 11 or under, or if they are in full-time studies.
Family contributions either through the form of monetary gifts or loans or the reduction of costs by living at home can be of great assistance in financing program costs.
The government student loan process expects that parents of dependent students will contribute to their child’s education. The expected contribution is based on the family's calculated discretionary income.
Students are no longer considered dependent if they:
• have been out of high school for 48 months,
• have been in the labour force for two periods of 12 consecutive months, or
• are married, living common-law, separated, divorced, widowed or have dependent children of their own.
If a student is no longer considered a dependent but is receiving family contributions they must still declare the amount received on their government student loan application.
If a student or student’s spouse has RRSPs, there is a provision to allow for tax-free withdrawal of these funds for educational purposes. Students are able to withdraw up to $10,000 per year from their RRSPs, to a total of $20,000.
They then have 10 years to repay this amount to their RRSP. Failure to repay the required amount in any given year will result in the amount having to be reported as income on their personal tax return.
NOTE: Withdrawal of RRSPs will affect a student's assessed need calculation and may therefore reduce government student loan and bursary eligibility.
Please consult the Canada Revenue Agency for more information.