Principal Issues: Before the revisions to the definition of "qualifying education program" in 118.6 for 2004, the post graduate medical students at the University could not claim the education tax credit because the program was taken by a student in connection with or as part of the duties of the office or employment. While this aspect is no longer relevant, a program is now excluded if the student receives, from a person with whom the student is dealing at arm's length, any allowance, benefit, grant or reimbursement for expenses in respect of the program. 90% of the students get free tuition so the question is whether they will have received a benefit, so that the particular post graduate program will not be a qualifying education program. The remaining 10% will have their fee paid by the sponsoring organization.
Position: In general terms, free tuition will only be considered to not be a benefit when the program is available to the public at large. Although it is ultimately a question of fact, it would appear that this is not the case and thus the program would qualify for the education tax credit.
Reasons: As stated in paragraph 16 of IT-515, "free tuition" is not considered to be a benefit if the program is available to the public at large at no cost. This does not seem to be the case for the University.