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Students and graduates have reason to celebrate during this reading break. Tuesday's provincial budget included a break that'll make student loans easier to pay off. Finance Minister Carole James announced the province is eliminating interest on student loans. James said it will save graduates an average of over two thousand dollars. Student advocates told KelownaNow the benefits will be felt immediately.
"This is actually part of campaigns we've been doing for 10 plus years, so it's pretty exciting," said Courtney Kindlein. She works with Okanagan College's Student Union and she's still paying off her own student loans. "I pay $2 a day in interest," added Kindlein. "That means I'll literally be paying it back twice as fast."
Kindlein's colleague at the Student Union office Megan Potter said there have been hints this might be coming. "We didn't know for sure though, so when it came out, we were definitely super excited about it."
The average BC student graduates with $28,000 in student loan debt. $11,000 of that is provincial. At 3.95% Minister James said it will likely save a typical student $2,300.
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