Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECE completed a review of the SFA program just in the last Assembly and with the goals to ensure that it was meeting the needs of NWT students to pursue their post-secondary education goals. The changes were in alignment as much of the work that we do, and the new work that we do with the Truth and Reconciliation of Canada Calls to Action, as well as the Report on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, as well as United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with the aim of better supporting Indigenous students with financial assistance to access post-secondary. And so that led to specific changes being made for northern Indigenous students in the program, which increased the supplementary grant to help with their monthly living expenses and to remove the limit of semesters that can be accessed by students as well, Mr. Speaker.
The SFA program offers monthly living allowance to students through either the supplementary grant or the remissible loan. And just so that everybody is aware, the grants are not repayable to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Remissible loans may be forgiven if a student returns to the NWT after they've completed their schooling but otherwise will be considered repayable. And students who receive the remissible loans must remain within that $60,000 loan limit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.