Thousands of student loan borrowers forced to default

Student activists say the federal government is denying Canada's most desperate student-loan recipients relief from sky-high interest rates at an alarming rate.

Figures obtained by the Coalition for Student Loan Fairness show more than 18,000 borrowers defaulted on their federal Student Loans the last five years after being denied interest relief.

Awarded to borrowers who are not yet earning enough cash to pay back their loans, interest relief was denied to nearly 85,000 students because they failed to meet the criteria.

Noting some still didn't qualify even though half their income was going to pay off their student loans, coalition founder Julian Benedict says the threshold is just too high.