Student loan writeoffs reach $540 million, with another 44,000 going unpaid

By Jason Fekete. The federal government is writing off another $231 million in unpaid student loans this year from more than 44,000 cases, meaning taxpayers are on the hook for more than half a billion in uncollected student debt over the past few years. Supplementary spending estimates tabled Monday in the House of Commons by Treasury Board president Tony Clement call for an additional $231.2 million in the current 2012-13 fiscal year ending in March to write off 44,048 debts related to Canada Student Loans.
“Amounts being written off are debts for which all reasonable efforts to collect the amounts owed have been exhausted,” explains the 145-page supplementary spending estimates.
The new cash for 2012-13 is on top of nearly $312 million on the books from the 2011-12 fiscal year to cover unpaid Canada Student Loans from 98,448 debts dating back more than a decade. Together, taxpayers are on the hook for more than $540 million over the past couple of years to cover uncollected student loan debt. Read more...