Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, February 18, 2021 -

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) needed to improve its management of certain aspects of student financial assistance, according to a report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) presented today by Kelly Block, Chair of the Committee.

In the spring of 2020, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a performance audit that focused on whether ESDC and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) efficiently managed financial assistance to post-secondary students and the risks to the public purse. It also focused on whether the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada collaborated with stakeholders to strengthen financial literacy pertaining to the financing of post-secondary education.

The audit found that ESDC needed to perform a more comprehensive evaluation of student financial assistance, to capture its full impact and the interactions among its programs. Also, the department did not take enough steps to ensure that borrowers understood their financial obligations and it did not properly verify borrowers’ eligibility for the Repayment Assistance Plan. Lastly, although CRA was responsible for recovering student loans in default, it did not have all the tools to perform this task effectively.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee made six recommendations to help ensure that the Government of Canada improves its administration of student financial assistance.