Hi,
I would like to share my story and thoughts on how our country has
failed everyone who has student debt. I'm tired, it's fairly late, I am
sorry if I say ridiculous things. Thank you for reading it anyway.
Here is a messy, quasi-point form account:
- high school valedictorian, 90% overall average, Governor General's
Bronze medal in grade 12 outing OAC students - ironically, I was
nominated most likely to succeed - maybe it was just a joke
- five year honours student winning nearly every possible subject award at some point in five years of high school
- $3000 in high school awards and $2000 entrance schollarship for university
- I sound like a whiner - I am, but I do realize I have it good
compared to many stories I have read on here - this is more to point
out that even the person who followed all the rules will get damaged by
student debt
- lower-middle class family, divorced parents = no money
- parents didn't save properly for education, too busy bickering
- worked hard, followed the rules and tried to be responsible
- listened to parents and teachers and chose a growing field of
opportunity that I enjoyed enough (note - might as well follow your
passion, not what is practical)
-finished university with a useless four year honors degree in a specialized field
- had to take a two year post-degree college level program (what is the
point of university if the degree is useless?) to further specialize
just so that I could get a job
- OSAP cuts 1/3 of my loan money the first year after university while
I attended this post-degree program - my financial situation hadn't
changed at all
- OSAP cuts my loan amount a further 1/3 the second year of that
program when I was working a 40hr/week clinical placement that was
unpaid (I had to study after work as well)
- managed to get part-time work in my clinical placement after 8hr
working day and on weekends (6-7 day weeks are not fun) to earn *some*
money
- still had to use VISA to borrow more money for living expenses
because I was in the middle of my placement and could not go back to my
$5000 summer job picking garbage and cutting grass at a golf course
that was my main source of income (slave youth labour)
- I would't have had to use my VISA if OSAP had just paid me the same
loan amount as in university - you cannot live off $3500 or even $6000
a year you idiots
- now living on 2/3 less money and no way of earning regular summer job income, using VISA to buy food and pay for rent
- nail in the coffin was when my school's financial aid office mailed
my interest relief form late (or not at all) and I get a nasty surprise
six months early after I thought it was all taken care of...surprise,
loan repayment time
- pay up $600+ interest and then start paying $301 monthly (in the middle of my 18week 40hr/week unpaid clinical placement)
- this program was at an institution that is partially funded by the
ministry of health, but this is how the students are treated
- finally finish the program and get a job at a well-respected hospital
(paid off VISA after a year), but with six years of education I still
get paid the same as staff who did a two year college program (some of
the baby boomer generation got paid to complete their program back in
the day) - this is a registered, highly specialized profession that
hardly anyone knows or cares about
- you can still get the same job I have if you do a two year college
program out of high school, do two university courses in the field
(summer school or night school), and then 90hrs of paid/unpaid work in
the field - we have doctors from other countries working my job because
of our government, but it's fine and dandy to let someone with a
college diploma do the same job and get paid the same by sneaking in
the back door - fine, but let me know before I spend years of my life
and thousands of dollars ok
- after working for four years full-time, I still owe $25,000, paying
$301/mo, never a late payment (I read this is average or even half of
some accounts)
- every time I check my loan status, I am miserably disappointed to see the principle has hardly decreased at all
- I am forced to pay the same renting as I would for a mortgage because
I cannot qualify for zero down payment and have no down payment for
purchasing
- I won't even be able to own a small 500sq ft condo until I combine finances with my partner (she is in the same situation)
- or it would take me years more on my own
- I have no car and my parents have told me flat out I have no
inheritance - they can't even help pay for my wedding, if I even have
one
Student loans as they stand today do not make university accessible in
a fair way for anyone. I feel university is really only financially
accessible for
children from wealthy or upper-middle class backgrounds, where the
parents pay for the majority of the cost. Or, it is for students who
work after
school and on weekends throughout high school and university, saving
every penny for
their education, but at what cost? Student loan programs like OSAP
create an illusion of accessibility that is falsely enhanced by parents
and teachers expectations and misinformation.
Student loans are a terrible trap that I feel the governments and the
banks are quite proud of.
It makes them interest on their money, while ensuring highly-educated
citizens, who are forced into a compliant lifestyle. What better way to
rip off the people who end up working for you? If you don't
repay, your life will be ruined. If you do repay, you life will be
ruined by the time you break even. By chosing university and OSAP, I
have sentenced myself to nearly twenty years of ongoing punishment and
an
unfair lifestyle, far poorer than my parent's generation.
My parents were married, owned a home and a car by the time they were
thirty. They had no debt and often went on weekend vacations in the
summer. They also made many, many financial mistakes including buying
and selling homes over and over again and losing money on them. Still,
the
only debt they had was their mortgage and car payments. My grandfather,
now gone, also loaned them $50,000 for a home. That sounds fair to me.
I stay at home on my vacations because I can't afford to go anywhere
nice. I have no car and I
rent. I keep track of all my finances very well and have a strict
budget that doesn't even allow me to go to a movie or a concert that
often. If I sold every belonging I had, I would still owe the
government
and the bank money from my student loans, but I often wonder if I
should just give it all up and sell everything except some clothes and
some dishes. Again, it's an illusion. Even what I have purchased is not
mine. I am negative and this is really the government's five year old
computer.
Something is very wrong with this system and it needs to stop NOW. Not
ten years from now, but RIGHT NOW. Most importantly, it needs to be
retroactive to include all current and past student loans in
significant financial forgiveness. Paying back what you borrowed seems
somewhat fair.
Paying interest on a loan for your education when you end up paying the
government taxes on the job you get with that education, and paying the
bank fees to store your money you earn with that education is
absolutely insane. It must be even worse when you end up working for
the government or the bank. They are charging you to work for them.
That's like a bully saying he'll protect you for forty years if you let
him break your nose or kick you in the gut each month for all of those
years. This is the Canada we are working for? How long will we put up
with this? It makes me sick.
Some countries believe investing in their future means investing in
educating youth so that they aren't financially crippled and miserable
for the
vast majority of their working lives. Plus, it's probably a good idea
to keep the younger generation somewhat happy with you seeing as they
will be looking after you when you can't even bathe yourself.
My message to any youth today is if you don't have all of the funds for
university up front, do not go. Even if you do, don't go unless you are
well-informed and are 100% sure of your choice. Instead, seriously
consider going to college
and completing a trade program or a hands-on program that will
guarantee you a
job (one that has a 100% hiring rate). Completing a program that costs
less in a shorter period of time, with no debt at the end surely rivals
years and years of student debt working at a job you are over-qualified
for with a university degree. Boy that degree looks great sitting in my
closet collecting dust while I take orders from someone who did four
years less school than me and can barely use computer software. They
can ask me for my ideas and reject them, only to re-invent them a few
months later as novel suggestions. Do youself a favour and work for
yourself.
I graduated high school with the hope of a fair future. Being born at
the gateway to the north, I thought hard work would allow me the chance
to achieve the simple and reasonable goals I had set for myself. I just
want a small home in the great city I live in, and to be free of this
unfair debt. I thought being Canadian meant I would have a chance to do
that before my hair was turning grey. I see now that I am somewhat a
slave to our country and I'd better keep my mouth shut and keep paying
my loan or else.
Congratulations to our government, present and past generations of
voters, parents, and teachers for turning the best and brightest of
today's youth into miserable, compliant citizens who have a fraction of
the fairness and quality of life afforded to the previous two
generations. If a political party announced they would make all OSAP
debt interest free until the remaining principle was repayed, I would
vote for them in a heartbeat. The NDP is probably the only party that
would ever even consider doing that. Remember that next time.
Until the day this country changes, I will just beg pathetically:
Please forgive me, my parent's weren't rich. Please forgive me, I
didn't work my childhood away...Canadians don't believe child labour is
the way to pay for an education, or do we. Please forgive me, I wanted
an education and I promise won't try to better myself ever again for
fear of massive debt and threats to my quality of live if I don't repay
said debt. Please forgive me, I just want a 500sq ft condo that I own,
but I'll settle for a heated shed in your back yard if you erase my
loan. Please forgive my debt before I am 40, I want to start at $0. For
the love of God just let me start at zero.
Thanks.
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