Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Dylan Abbott of Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador always knew she wanted to be a social worker. Although she says $3,800 a semester is a “ridiculous” amount of money, that’s how much it costs her to study at Memorial University.
Now the federal government has added her future occupation to the list of those eligible for its Canada Student Loan Forgiveness, Abbott says she feels empowered.
“Having that forgiveness would just set [me] up for the future just immediately once I graduate, which would be really helpful especially with unpaid work terms,” she told CBC News while standing outside MUN’s University Centre in St. John’s.
WATCH | Social work students in Canada could be in for some major savings::
Social work students among those celebrating addition to student loan forgiveness program
The federal government quietly added a handful of professions to its Canada Student Loan Forgiveness program. It was a fitting New Year’s surprise for the Canadian Association of Social Workers, which says it’s been a long time coming for them. CBC’s Maddie Ryan reports.
Eligible social workers who borrowed student loans have 90 days after completing one year of service to apply to have the federal portion forgiven. They could receive up to $30,000 over five years.
Several other jobs were added to the program on Dec. 31, 2025, including dentists, teachers and pharmacists, among others.
The money comes with strings attached, however.
Loan forgiveness only applies to professionals who have worked in rural communities — or communities with a population of 30,000 people or less — for at least one year.
Inspired by the social workers who once helped her own family, Abbott said she’s “absolutely” up for that challenge if it means she can help others.
Abbott’s five siblings were all adopted by her family in 2023. Witnessing how social workers brought them all together inspired her to enter the field. (Submitted by Dylan Abbott)
Abbott’s family adopted five children in 2023 and she said it was a long process with several different professionals involved.
“It takes a social worker and it takes their supervisor and their manager. It’s all of these social workers together just for that one step,” she said, adding they even helped to enroll her siblings in extracurricular activities.
The first-year social work student said she wants to spend her next work term in Labrador, and she sees herself working in corrections once she earns her degree.
“They don’t have the resources that we have. They can’t just walk down the road and there’s going to be, you know, help,” Abbott said. “Communities rely on each other and I think that social workers are a big part of that.”
A long time coming
After fighting for student loan forgiveness for nearly a decade, Canadian Association of Social Workers executive director Fred Phelps says the news was the best New Year’s gift he’d ever received.
Doctors and nurses in rural communities have been included in the federal program since 2013 — and Phelps has long said that social workers deserve to be seen in the same light.
Fred Phelps of the Canadian Association of Social Workers is finally celebrating a win after nearly a decade of advocating for loan forgiveness. (Canadian Association of Social Workers)
Phelps said forgiving student loans could boost employment and retention in the areas that typically rely on social workers, like remote Indigenous communities.
“Many communities understand that health professionals come in from away, they rotate in and rotate out and social workers are often the ones that are maintained in community throughout the whole year,” he said in an interview from Ottawa.
Phelps said he was especially “elated” by the quiet new addition to the Canada Student Loans Forgiveness program after seeing Budget 2026 omitted the previous Liberal government’s commitment to doing so for occupations like social work.
“I’m just so happy that after eight or nine years of my life this has come. These wins don’t come very often. This is a huge win for the profession,” he said.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.