This website is a testimony to the problems Canadian Student Loan borrowers experienced from approximately 1996 to 2008 and until their loans were paid off.

The privatization of the Student Loans system by the Chretien and Martin Liberal governments broke the system and defaulted thousands of borrowers who were trying to pay their loans. There were even stories of suicide due to the harassment of borrowers.

Read the report that I prepared back in 2007 here. Canada Student Loans-The Need for Change Fortunately the new Conservative government at the time revamped the program and fixed the system for new borrowers, but borrowers under the previous program were left with ruined credit and continued harassment from debt collectors.

I call on the Canadian Government to apologize to the borrowers affected by this fiasco and make amends.

Unfortunately the Liberal government is again clobbering the Education system with their upcoming changes to International Student Visas. Yes, there's a problem, but instead of a well thought out plan, they have pulled the emergency brake on the train causing a derailment. This has introduced unprecedented instability for both private and public education institutions who serve both international and local students.

Universities can't plan. I've heard of courses being cut because the government has no process in place for universities to send the newly required acceptance letters to the government.

This means that students who have been accepted can not attend courses that start in the summer 2024 semester. With cut sections, current Canadian students will have trouble getting courses, and may have to switch to part-time which changes their enrollment status and might trigger repayment of their loans or ineligibility for funding. I've seen this before. It wreaks havoc on the student loan borrowers.

Again, the Liberal government has messed up the education environment. Will the new system needed in a rush for the acceptance letters be the new Arrivecan scandal?

I call on the government to implement a slower phased in approach and delay the requirement of the acceptance letters until a process is in place to submit these letters.


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miss3 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 29/October/2004 at 11:07am

I am absolutely disappointed in how some of the threads have gone.  I really did think that most of the posters had been through financial HELL and so would likely be empathetic, there are some who are, but not as many as I'd first thought. 

I was struck by an Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLGC) television ad about the Cash4Life instant tickets.  Right there in full colour television was the opinion of the government (Ontario anyways.)  It begins with a couple scratching a ticket and the "lottery fairy" appears and waving his wand the couple suddenly win the $1000 per week for life (or is it now $2000?)  The comercial continues to show how it could have been before and after winning the lottery.  For example, before winning the husband is lounging around in a child's inflatable pool and after winning he is leisurely afloat in a ritzy in-ground pool (sipping fancy drinks.)  I had seen this commercial quite a few times and thought how my husband is right when he says that lotteries are a "poor man's tax."  Suddenly I saw the part in the commercial where the couple's son is graduating.  Before winning the lottery the poor kid is wearing a uniform that looks like a Mc Apron complete with fast-food paper hat, but after winning the lottery this same son is now wearing the complete graduation gown and cap standing in front of a beautiful-looking higher institution accompanied by his parents who are also smartly dressed.  Well!  The OLGC certainly know that it is STUPID to believe that any poor (expletive) is going to graduate and have any hope of a rosy financial future unless he/she wins the lottery.  That's like saying "When hell freezes over." 

On a different topic but definitely related.  In another thread I found this: "Look Cesca, I hate to stereotype, but DH has been on the dole for four years. In previous posts, you said that most of DH family was either on the dole or on disability. Do you not see a pattern here?"

It is commonly accepted that poverty does tend to run in families.  Has anyone ever considered that the system perpetuates this?  There are rags to riches stories, but they are very rare.  And in the case with disabilities they do tend to run in families!  That's why a good doctor asks you for your family history.  My mother has diabetes and I have to be screened regularly.  My husband's mother, two uncles and one aunt all had serious anneurysms, therefore he needs to be screened and so do our kids. 

It's funny but Carl G. Jung apparently once said that it would be interesting to study whether psychiatry ran in families.  I would like to see how "economic well-being" also runs in families.  And families with economic well-being wouldn't know of their well-being if there were no poor families to compare themselves to. 

So being poor is okay, just think that you are making someone happy. 

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eshelton View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote eshelton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29/October/2004 at 1:45pm
miss3,

Good eye on the commercial.  So people who win the lottery or who are really rich get to go to university.  I'd like to pin that to the government.

So the government is essentially saying 'you can have no education with no money, or have a good education with a lot of money'. 

This flies in the face of their policy of being accessible to all students regardless of income. 
"A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." - Jean Chretien
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote countrygirl2094 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29/October/2004 at 2:45pm

We should make a commercial of our own.........showing the pain and anguish you can and most likely will suffer if you take out a student loan.  You know.....like they do for cigarettes?  They show these disturbing commercials on how smoking can be harmful to you health....

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30/October/2004 at 7:31am
That’s a great idea!

Here’s my promise to all of you if I ever win a huge lottery: I will pay for such a commercial to be produced and broadcast across Canada. But I will go a step further and highlight a few facts about HRDC, CIBC, RBC, collection agencies, and how inhumane it all is.

The sad part is that the government would probably blow millions of dollars in rebuttal ads.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nago Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16/January/2005 at 1:26am
Country girl im not so sure

Its quite embarrassing


You see i applied for a low income gym membership through the city of surrey here in BC.

What they want is a completed form with a notice of assessment and utility bills.

but i got the run around and had to apply and reapply 5 times now.

Its a really degrading process.

They even went so far as to call me a liar on the phone.

Asking me how i pay 500 bucks rent each month with 1300 total income is hard to explain

I ended up supplying all my student loans documents, my pardon for criminal record, a 4 page detailed description of my life, a reference letter from volunteering with some kids, 3 letters from my landlord.

I ended not qualifying for a low income membership because im too poor(this is excluding my student loan payments)

Because of the poor treatment I wrote the vancouver sun and will write to the city of surrey demanding better treatment of the poor and improved ethical practices---im really sick of the way the poor are treated here.

But to finish the story:

My nephew bought me ten tickets

But everytime i walk in I get snickers, the staff look my way alot, and the life guards look strangley at me.

Its an embarrassing but maybe "taser guns would work better"-- a security guard or former student could zap people when they pick up an application :)
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masy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote masy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17/January/2005 at 9:25am

That's terrible nago, what gym was this? I know that the YMCA has a community accessibility policy where they set membership rates according to the person's income.

I read the first post on this tread and I agree that poverty can run in families, because I've seen it happen. You have to have opportunity to well, have more opportunity. If your parents are poor, then they can't afford to pay for things like educational camps, sports, fieldtrips, etc, and of course not college or univeristy. If you get a student loan, you start out your adult life already in the hole for thousands of dollars.

It reminds me of this card game I used to play back in Nfld called 'Asshole', where all of the cards are divided amongst the players and the goal is to be the first person to get rid of all of your cards. There are wild cards, which help get rid of the other cards in your hand quicker and the last person to get rid of their cards is the Asshole. The Asshole has to deal and give two of their best cards to the person who got rid of their cards first - the President. So, the Asshole starts the new game already at a disadvantage, thereby increasing the chances that he or she will end up being the asshole again.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm still playing that stupid game

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nago Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/January/2005 at 8:49am
oh i dont mind being in the hole but the problems is working for less than minimum wage


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/January/2005 at 6:06pm

 

 Is that you, Danny?

 If so, we have work to do. Get on the phone and call me.

 Johnny

Solve Student Debt specializes in solutions for students and graduates in student loan default, and those at risk of defaulting.

solvestudentdebt.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pretzel_logic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15/February/2005 at 7:46am

There is a point when the door closes on the poor, I agree. It takes on different forms in our formally democratic educational system. It could simply be that your social background did not prepare you properly for higher learning, a privilege traditionally reserved for the rich. If your parents were blue collars, say, they could not offer any guidance in approaching University life and everything it implies, including the financial aspect of things.

And then, straight off the bat, the bar was higher for you, having to deal with this complex problematic by yourself. You lacked the "cultural capital" needed at the onset, some would say, and were more likely to err.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote stressedmomma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/April/2005 at 6:28pm

 

You know, there is a lot of literature - though not uncontested - on "occupational inheritance", i.e., if your mom was a cashier, you're more likely to be one. We've all heard stories of that boy from the wrong side of the tracks who became CEO, but it's more likely that you will follow in your parents' footsteps. Some of that has to do with opportunities for "apprenticeship" in the craft, but some of it has to do with the social capital pretzel was referring to.

The argument goes that the opportunities we have in life are strongly linked to one's ability to operate adeptly in the circles where "successful" people congregate. Part of that ability comes from having shared experience and even vocuabulary, and you acquire the vocabulary that Tommy next door has if you don't have money to pursue an enriched upbringing.

 

I'd like to think those of us without modest means can compensate by enriching our families with free and inexpensive experiences like museums and nature hikes. (Of course, now they've instituted parking fees for many community parks here in BC, so unless you have 5 bucks you can't take your kids to the beach for the day. At least not in the car!)

 

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote stressedmomma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/April/2005 at 6:29pm

I meant "you can't acquire the vocabulary that Tommy next door has if you don't have money to pursue an enriched upbringing..."

 

sorry bout that.

 

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