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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    Posted: 31/January/2006 at 5:56pm
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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old hippy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote old hippy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01/February/2006 at 12:55pm

Beautifully written ...I think your post should be published in a newspaper somewhere.  Good points.  I especially agree with you about the interest.  I think all student loans should be interest free as well.  It's not like we've all been living beyond our means.  Far from it.  Big business saw a growing market for education and moved in for the kill.  I like the way you described OSAP as providing an 'illusion of accessibility'....very true.  And the ones that are 'sneaking in the back door'....those are the relatives. 

Hang in there...whatever that specialty of yours is - your degree may pay off in the long run, you never know...

 

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Spinney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/February/2006 at 3:52pm
I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and fully describe my feelings about this system (read: meatgrinder), but you've done so perfectly 

I picked up 2 degrees and close to $60000 in debt, which means I'm building up to $400 a month in interest. Meanwhile my uneducated friends are buying cars, going on trips around the world etc. They wonder why we have a brain drain...we can't pay people enough to stay here. I always wanted to stay in Canada and didn't really think too much about the loan system going through school. Foolishly I believed that the Canadian government would not create a program that hurts the country.

Like you I'm beginning to feel very disillusioned with the situation. Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just sell everything, leave the country and never come back. Canada obviously does not care about either its future or the lower middle class. It seems at times that leaving the country will be the only way to get ahead in life, even if that means living in a dirt hut in Africa. At least you'd own it.

Of course I would miss Canada too much to ever leave but this exploitation of the poor does make me very bitter at times.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote old hippy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/February/2006 at 1:24pm

Interesting numbers...

I also have 2 degrees and owe over $60,000 (I don't know how I survived on that really for all those years) - anyways, what really irritates me is the $400 a month in interest.  Between the two of us Spinney, the bank is profitting almost $10,000 a year!!  Or would like to...

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Spinney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/February/2006 at 4:53am
I know, disgusting isn't it? It wouldn't be so offensive if it was structured differently. If it was like a flat limited fee for every $10000 or something. You borrow 10 grand, and you pay back 11 grand. I just wish there was some way to get the government to acknowledge what is happening. If some of the same things I've read about here happen to me someone will definately be hearing about it, such as my MP.
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