N.S. government offers loan reimbursements for early childhood educators

NSCECE student loans being reimbursed up to $5,000 a year.

NSCECE are focusing their advertising, including bus ads, on the loan reimbursement program to attract more students to their diploma program. (Photo: Chelcie Soroka)

People looking for a free education may have found one.

The Early Childhood Education Assistance Program, offered by the Community Services Department of the provincial government, gives up to $5,000 in student loan reimbursements per year to students who graduate from early childhood education programs.

The government says there aren’t enough ECEs (early childhood educators) in the province.

Three post-secondary institutions in Halifax offer such programs. They include the Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education, the Nova Scotia Community College, and Mount Saint Vincent University.

Tuition fees for NSCECE's two-year diploma program is $4,955 this year and will rise to $5,200 next year. NSCC's two-year online diploma costs less than $4,500 each year. According to the MSVU website, the four-year degree program costs $4,000 per semester.

Barbara Rowe, a student success counsellor at NSCECE, says with the government offering up to $5,000 a year in reimbursements students can effectively get a free degree or diploma in early childhood education.

If tuition fees are equal to or more than $5,000, then students are reimbursed $5,000. If tuition fees are less than $5,000, students are reimbursed for whatever they had to pay out. They can be reimbursed for a maximum of four years or receive up to $20,000.

Laura Penney, 27, is a second-year student at NSCECE. She already has a degree in international tourism and hospitality.

The reimbursement is part of the reason why Penney decided to go to NSCECE. "Since this was my second career move, I had already purchased a house and was looking at purchasing another house, so for me financially it wouldn't be possible without the backing of the government. I really did not want to be 28 with school debt."

She says the reimbursement was "definitely a factor in me leaving the job that I had, which was well-paying and took very good care of me, to go back to school for two years."

Rowe says, "the reason why the money is out there is because there's a drastic shortage of early childhood educators in this province. The Department of Community Services has provided this incentive program for both full time and continuing education students to help level out the market.

"There's no cap on how many people can take advantage of it."

What's the catch?

To qualify for the reimbursement, students have to:

• graduate from a school with an approved ECE training program (like NSCECE, NSCC or MSVU),
• find a job at a licensed child care centre or family home daycare centre within four months of graduating,
• and have received a student loan through the Nova Scotia student assistance program.

After graduating, students are given a year to work 1,500 hours, which usually takes about ten months if working full time. After reaching 1,500 hours, the provincial government will reimburse $5,000 of students' loans. Grads then work another 1,500 hours before being reimbursed for another $5,000.

Rowe says almost all grads are eligible for the reimbursements without even trying. A directory of licensed child care facilities on the provincial government website lists over 200 facilities in the Halifax county alone.

ECEs can do anything from planning recreational activities to managing a daycare.

NSCECE's diploma program is hands-on, with students completing a practicum every semester. This keeps the number of students enrolled low, less than 200. Rowe says the school has about 55 first-year students and 35 second-year students. She adds that in the past, before the reimbursement incentive program, the school had classes with enrolment in the 20s.

Rowe says the possibility of having most, if not all, of your student loans reimbursed has led to an increase in enrolment.

"We are primarily advertising, at the moment, the reimbursement," Rowe says. "We shout from the rooftops for people to come."

Community Services also has a reimbursement program for continuing education students. People who are already working in a licensed child care centre or family home daycare centre are eligible and can take courses part time. Continuing education students can work part time and receive up to $1,000 each year they take courses or they can work full time and receive up to $5,000 a year.

Nothing lasts forever

Kristina Creamer, coordinator of family home daycares and early childhood education says Nova Scotia has "problems with finding early childhood educators." The assistance program was put in place in 2008 to try and recruit and retain ECEs.

Funding for the program will run out in 2016, when the province hopes there won't be a shortage of ECEs any more.

Comments on this story are now closed