Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Program Is Now Available for Dental Hygienists
Highlights
-
Loan forgiveness for dental hygienists working in underserved
rural/remote areas was added in the 2024 federal budget—a significant
milestone in CDHA’s advocacy.
-
Expansion expected to launch in fall 2025, pending regulatory approval.
-
Eligible hygienists may receive up to $15,000 over five years, starting
at $2,000 in year one.
-
CDHA is pushing for higher forgiveness amounts due to the high cost of
dental hygiene education.
-
To qualify, dental hygienists must provide at least 400 hours of
in-person care annually; applies only to federal portion of student
loans.
- Applications are expected to open by the end of 2025
What's New
Dental hygienists can apply for the federal Canada Student Loan
Forgiveness Program as of December 31, 2025.
Read full program details.
The loan forgiveness program is for dental hygienists electing to work in
underserved rural areas or population centres of less than 30,000
inhabitants.
To be eligible, a dental hygienist must:
- have received a federal student loan during their studies
- have an outstanding portion to reimburse to government
-
have a student loan that is in good standing (must be up to date with
payments)
-
have been employed in dental hygiene for a minimum of one full year (12
consecutive months)
-
have provided a minimum of 400 hours of direct dental hygiene services
to an eligible community
-
apply within 90 days after completion of your full year of service
- If eligible, you may receive up to $15,000 over five years.
For more information, please visit the
Government of Canada
website.
Pour plus d'informations sur le programme fédéral d'exonération des prêts étudiants pour les hygiénistes dentaires, cliquez ici.
The Government of Canada offers student loan forgiveness to eligible family
doctors, residents in family medicine, nurse practitioners, and nurses who
work in underserved rural or remote communities. Introduced in 2013, the
Canada Student Loan forgiveness program
is aimed at increasing health care services in designated rural and remote
regions across Canada, while enabling health professionals to reduce amounts
owing on their outstanding Canada Student Loans balances (the federal
portion of a government student loan).
To support greater access to oral health care in underserved rural and
remote communities across the country, CDHA had advocated extensively over
the years for the inclusion of dental hygienists in the list of
professionals eligible for Canada Student Loan forgiveness. CDHA believes
that expanding the eligibility of loan forgiveness to dental hygienists
would be effective in incentivizing members of the profession to choose to
return or relocate to a rural or remote community towards the delivery of
primary health care to communities in need.
CDHA Responds to Proposed Regulations For Expanding Student Loan
Forgiveness: Higher Amounts Recommended, March 12, 2025
— The federal government’s work to permanently expand the Canada Student
Loan forgiveness benefit to 10 more professions, including dental
hygienists, released more details in proposed regulations for public comment
until March 17.
CDHA’s response to the regulatory amendments recommends increasing the
proposed forgiveness amounts to address borrowers who would have attended
education programs associated with high costs. The proposed loan forgiveness
benefit amounts established for dental hygienists is up to $15,000 over a
five-year period, including $2,000 in year 1, $2,500 in year 2, $3,000 in
year 3, $3,500 in year 4, and $4,000 in year 5. Subject to regulatory
approvals, the benefit, which applies only to federal loans is intended to
come into force in fall 2025. Newly eligible professionals could apply after
completing a year of work in an eligible rural or remote community.
CDHA encourages all dental hygienists and education programs to read the
complete regulatory proposal
here.
ADVOCACY WIN, April 16, 2024 — The 2024 federal budget,
Budget 2024: Fairness for Every Generation, announced the expansion of the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness program to
dental hygienists and other professions to encourage younger generations to
relocate to rural and remote communities, where homes are often cheaper than
in bigger cities, and where professionals in health care and social services
are needed. Specifically, the budget announced (Chapter 2, pages 122-123)
-
intent to introduce amendments to the
Canada Student Financial Assistance Act and the
Canada Student Loans Act to permanently expand the reach of the
Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Program to more health care and social
services professionals working in rural and remote communities (9
professions including dental hygienists).
-
costing estimated to be $253.8 million over four years,
starting in 2025-26, and $84.3 million ongoing.
CDHA welcomes news that student loan forgiveness will be expanded to dental
hygienists. It is a great step forward in recognizing the role of dental
hygienists in the health care system and the need for improving access to
oral health care in rural and remote communities.
With more to be done to bring this announcement forward, CDHA looks forward
to working with the federal government on any measures that can benefit
dental hygiene graduates and encourage youth to pursue dental hygiene as a
career. With this new announcement, dental hygienists who work in
underserved rural or remote communities will be eligible to have the federal
portion of their student loan forgiven.
Key Messages
-
With more than 6 million Canadians living in rural areas, CDHA
understands that access to extended health care services in rural and
remote communities remains an ongoing challenge for many Canadians.
Populations living in small, northern, and geographically isolated
communities do not have equitable access to oral health care as those
living in urban centres may have. Geographic factors and health
workforce constraints, perpetuate these issues, adding to access
challenges.
-
For people living in underserved rural and remote communities across
Canada, expanding the eligibility of Canada Student Loan forgiveness to
include dental hygienists has the potential to increase access to more
primary care services (distinct from medicine and nursing).
-
Attracting dental hygienists to rural and remote communities means more
access to essential prevention services in these parts of the country,
including in areas typically underserved by other dental professionals,
and in various accessible settings such as schools, mobile clinics,
public health clinics, community centres, private homes, and
independently owned dental hygiene clinics.
-
For loan forgiveness to have incentivizing impacts and long-term
effectiveness, amounts should consider average post-secondary costs and
student loan levels, as well as salary expectations and cost of living
considerations.
-
While loan forgiveness can be a useful means of encouraging health
professionals to work in underserved communities, it is only one aspect
of broader provincial, territorial, federal, and stakeholder efforts
needed to address health workforce shortages in rural and remote
communities.
-
CDHA recognizes that a variety of factors can influence a health
professional’s decision on where to live, such as workplace environment,
appropriate experience, access to professional networks, career
progression opportunities, work-life balance, transportation options,
childcare services/education availability, housing options, labour
market opportunities for other family members, personal connections to a
community, accessibility of community and leisure activities, and more.
Featured External Resources