Protection of your personal information

Personal information will be collected by means of an electronic form available on the Ministère's website. Aide financière aux études will use the information obtained only to award you financial assistance, if you are entitled to it, or to establish the terms and conditions for the repayment of your student loan debt.

In order to ensure the accuracy of the declarations made or to recover the amounts due, Aide financière aux études may, in accordance with the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information, carry out certain checks with the following bodies or organizations:

• Ministries or bodies other than those of Québec, to check whether you are eligible for student financial assistance
• The Ministère de l’Éducation and the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, to confirm information relating to academic records
• The Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale, to verify the identity of the beneficiaries of social assistance or social solidarity programs and to allow them additional time to repay an overpayment or a loan granted under the Loans and Bursaries Program
• Revenu Québec, to verify certain information provided (e.g. marital status, address, employers and income) or to recover, through income tax, an amount owed due to non‑compliance with repayment agreements
• A credit rating agency, to determine the place of residence of certain untraceable persons and verify the information provided
• Educational institutions, to obtain confirmation of student status
• Financial institutions, to update the files of the beneficiaries of a program offered by Aide financière aux études and follow up on the loan amount to be repaid
• The Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec, to determine the place of residence of certain untraceable persons
• A debt collection agency outside Québec, to obtain repayment of a student loan from a person or to enter into a repayment agreement with that person

We assure you that we will not disclose the personal information obtained to any other government body or private organization without informing you.

Please note that you do not have access to the information provided by your parents, your sponsor, or your spouse. Moreover, they cannot obtain the information that you have provided. Only the amount of their contribution, if any, is recorded in your file.

You are responsible for the information you send us, which must be up to date, accurate and complete, as well as for maintaining the confidentiality of your identification information. If the confidentiality of this information is compromised, please notify us as soon as possible to prevent any possible fraudulent use of your identity.

Aide financière aux études only collects the information necessary to process your application. As such, in order to obtain financial assistance, you must provide up-to-date, accurate and complete information so that we can process your application. If you refuse to provide the information requested, your application cannot be analyzed and you will not receive the financial assistance to which you are entitled.

You can withdraw your consent to the use or disclosure of your information. However, in this case, you will not be eligible for student financial assistance.

Lastly, if you receive financial assistance for your studies, you must inform us of any change in your situation that could affect the amount of financial assistance granted to you.

Having a file that is incomplete or contains inaccurate information could create significant inconveniences for you, such as the interruption of scheduled payments or the obligation to immediately repay an overpayment. You could also become ineligible for the Loans and Bursaries Program and the Loans Program for Part-Time Studies for a period of two years.

Change of address		It is important to notify Aide financière aux études of any change of address within 30 days of your move. After this deadline, if you still have not provided an exact address, you risk having your financial assistance payments interrupted. In this case, we will notify you in your Student Financial Assistance File. Furthermore, by providing us with your exact contact information, you can be sure to receive all the letters intended for you.
Required documents		You must provide all the required documents. We accept photocopies in most cases. You can also submit your documents in your Student Financial Assistance File. Please note that you do not have to resubmit a document that you have already sent if the information it contains is still accurate. Certified true copy of a document Aide financière aux études considers that a copy is a true copy if it bears the seal of the educational institution and the initials of the person (from the registrar’s office or the student financial aid office) who certified its authenticity. Sworn statement The following persons are authorized to administer oaths: lawyers, notaries, justices of the peace, mayors, municipal clerks and commissioners for oaths. In educational institutions and financial institutions, a few people are usually authorized to act as commissioners for oaths. Important! A document that is not compliant with the requirements will be rejected. If you need help, please contact the financial aid office at your educational institution.

You have the right to access your personal information held by the Ministère and to have it corrected, to the extent provided by law.

Updating personal information

Address

Is your address incorrect or has it changed?		If your address is incorrect or has changed, you must notify us in your Student Financial Assistance File.
		Important! Are you moving out of or moving back into your parents’ residence after applying to the Loans and Bursaries Program for the current year? You must also notify us of this change. You can do this in your Student Financial Assistance File, or use the paper version of the Declaration of Change – Student form, available in the Forms section of the Québec.ca/en/education/student-financial-assistance website. We remind you that you must notify us of any change in your situation that could affect the amount of financial assistance granted to you.

Telephone number

How to register or change your phone number?

You can register a telephone number, add one or modify the one you have already entered. For each number entered, you must specify the category to which it belongs. You do not need to provide a number for each category.

Email address

How to register or change your email?		Make sure your email address is valid. Please also make sure you enter the same email address in both fields.
How to make sure to receive all messages?		Please notify us of any changes to your email address so that we can continue to communicate with you. Important! To prevent our emails from being blocked by the filter of your email software, add our address (afe@education.gouv.qc.ca) to your list of approved senders (contact list).
		Aide financière aux études will contact you by email to keep you informed about the status your file. This means that instead of receiving a notice by mail, you will receive an email inviting you to consult your Student Financial Assistance File. Please note that certain documents, such as the financial assistance statement, will no longer be sent to you by mail. However, you will receive an email each time there is a change to your file.

Your declared income

Important! If you have applied under the Loans and Bursaries Program and your income changes during the year, you must notify us immediately. You can do this in your Student Financial Assistance File, or use the paper version of the Declaration of Change – Student form, available in the Forms section of the Québec.ca/student-financial-assistance website.

We remind you that you must notify us of any change in your situation that could affect the amount of financial assistance granted to you.

Consulting your personal information

You can consult and update your contact information in your Student Financial Assistance File. You can also find out the status of your file in detail, in particular by reading our messages and the results of the calculation of your financial assistance. Lastly, you can:

• consult the forms that you have already completed or sent
• view the documents you have sent us
• make a new application for financial assistance
• complete and send a Declaration of Change – Student form
• enter into an agreement with the collection department to repay your student loan

In accordance with the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information, Aide financière aux études only collects the personal information it requires to process your application. This Act requires public bodies to collect only the personal information necessary for the exercise of their rights and powers or the administration of the programs they manage.

Collecting your personal information is necessary to:

• confirm your identity when you communicate with us
• allow us to access your information in order to respond to your application
• ensure the confidentiality of your information

Your personal information is essential to us because it allows us to determine your needs in terms of financial assistance for studies and to establish whether if you are eligible for our programs.

We will only use this information to:

• provide you with financial assistance, if you are entitled to it
• recover an overpayment or, if you do not comply with the stipulated repayment terms and conditions, recover sums lent to you