N.W.T. government to reimburse students for late tuition fees after funding delays
CBC
The Northwest Territories government says it will reimburse students who were charged late tuition fees last fall because of delays in student financial assistance payments.
Some N.W.T. post-secondary students faced late penalties after their tuition was not paid on time. Fees vary by institution, but can run between $50 and $150. Some schools also apply monthly interest to unpaid balances.
Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart had been pressing the territorial government to cover those costs since before Christmas.
He shared the outcome on social media last week.
"Kids shouldn't have to be paying for the mistakes of something through no fault of their own," Testart later told CBC news in an interview. "It's so expensive to live in the Northwest Territories, live in Canada... And piling on extra costs that are through, again no fault of their own, is just unacceptable."
In a statement published in the Legislative Assembly's Hansard, the education department said it received a record number of student financial assistance applications last fall, which slowed processing and delayed some payments.
In a email to CBC News, the department confirmed it will reimburse all documented late fees paid by students, as long as those charges resulted directly from delayed student financial assistance payments caused by administrative or processing issues outside the student’s control.
To be eligible, students must have applied for full-time student financial assistance before the June 30 deadline, been charged a late fee for the affected term, and paid that fee without it being waived by their institution. Supporting documents such as invoices and proof of payment are required.
Requests for reimbursement must be submitted by email by March 4, 2026. The department says late submissions will not be accepted.
The department also says it does not yet have an estimate of how much the reimbursements will cost, because it hasn't tracked how many students were affected.
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