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OTTAWA — The federal government is writing off another $231 million in unpaid student loans this year from more than 44,000 cases, meaning taxpayers are on the hook for more than half a billion in uncollected student debt over the past few years.

Supplementary spending estimates tabled Monday in the House of Commons by Treasury Board president Tony Clement call for an additional $231.2 million in the current 2012-13 fiscal year ending in March to write off 44,048 debts related to Canada Student Loans.

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“Amounts being written off are debts for which all reasonable efforts to collect the amounts owed have been exhausted,” explains the 145-page supplementary spending estimates.

The new cash for 2012-13 is on top of nearly $312 million on the books from the 2011-12 fiscal year to cover unpaid Canada Student Loans from 98,448 debts dating back more than a decade.

Together, taxpayers are on the hook for more than $540 million over the past couple of years to cover uncollected student loan debt.