The NDP government eliminated interest charges on the provincial portion of post-secondary student loans in Tuesday’s budget, effective immediately.

“As far as I can tell, there is no down side,” Stewart McGillivray, government relations strategist with the BCIT Student Association, said after coming out of the budget lockup. “It will save people money, every little bit helps.”

The B.C. government estimates the provincial share of a post-secondary student loan upon graduation averages out to $11,200 of a combined federal/provincial student-loan debt of about $28,000. The loans are made by the federal and B.C. governments, but payments are integrated and administered by National Student Loan Services.

Eliminating the provincial portion of interest payments (which were at prime, currently 3.95 per cent) would save a student about $2,300 over 10 years, according to budget estimates.