Yes, this is what I have also being saying. Even for a Graduate certificate/ Post graduate diploma course the average semester fee is 8000 which is just 2000 shy of the required amount.I see a lot of people are worrying without analysing the impact of proposed change in the GIC requirement.
My analysis as I see it is that in most cases it may bring down the upfront financial cost(requirement). In the current scenario under SDS the funds required are GIC (CAD 10000) plus one year (2 semester) fees which in majority of cases for PG/Masters program works out to be more than the proposed increase in the GIC.
Disbursement under the current GIC is CAD 2000 as soon as you reach Canada and open your bank account and the balance GIC is disbursed @ 670 CAD per month over the period of 12 months. What is still not clear is how the disbursement norms will change after this proposed increase. If the disbursement ratio remains the same then the second semester fees can be paid by saving the increased GIC payout.
This is much happier news for Degree and masters students where one semesters fees can be 15-16 CAD.
Also, there would be more banks for us to choose from, since the list is no longer restricted to a select few. We should see more offers from other banks, it may not be beneficial for us who are going for the Sept 2019, but in the future we should see other offers for more banks.
To my knowledge the calculation is
10,000 GIC
2,000 CAD upfront + Interest (amount depends on when you deposited)
8000 CAD / 12 months = 666.66 CAD ( rounded off to 667 )
20,000 GIC
2,000 CAD upfront + Interest (amount depends on when you deposited)
18000 CAD / 12 months = 1500 CAD