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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torontoboy26 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 18/April/2004 at 7:01pm

Dear All,

Anyone else become a smoker over the years?  What is an average day like for those who owe OSAP money?  Lets see. 

6:45 am.  Wake up to the sound of the alarm.  Light a smoke.  Smoke that cigarette like it was the end of the dragons tail and get a body buzz.  Look at my fridge and wonder how I survive on so little food.  Race to grab some quick food.  Pack a lunch consists of two cheese sandwiches.  Realize Im living good this week,  I had enough money for 'decent groceries.' Boil water for tea.  Shower.  Decide on having another smoke.  Dress and off to the bus.  Off to work I go.  Have another smoke waiting for the bus.

By now, within less than an hour the paranoia kicks in.  I look for collection representatives to follow me on the bus and ask why I havent made payments.  I work fulltime in a warehouse and I havent even gotten to work yet, and I am getting the shakes and anxiety attacks because I fear they will call me at work again. 

Before entering the doors (I work in a warehouse in a retail store because I couldnt afford to finish my degree), I have panic attacks that they will call my cell phone all day or my boss or my manager and harass them.  The harassment doesnt just end at calling my cell phone all day and leaving messages, or filling my mail box daily with letters threatening me.  The harassment doesnt end with my email being filled daily with letters from various collection agencies and various representatives in the same agencies contacting me.

After an hour of work, I need another cigarette.  I feel like I am a caged animal.  I am stuck in a job that I am extremely over qualifited for.  I am going in the midst of filing for bankruptcy.  I hated Osap even before I applied for it.  Little did I know just how collection agencies operate.  But I did learn that education is a priviledge and not a right in Canada.  Canada uses these agencies to represent them and these agencies drive honest people into depressions and Im even sure suicidal behaviour.

I have trouble getting through a normal work day, for 10 dollars an hour.  My 40 hour week feels like 400 hours, even though I dont mind the work and I like the people.  They have contacted me at work twice and I told them twice that it is harassment and that they should never call me there again.  I am just trying to pay my bills to get by, so I can eventually get another job. 

I used to feel proud that I live in Canada.  But I question this now.  After reading this forum, I feel even more lost.  I still wonder when those agencies will begin to garnish my wages.  I am lost really.  I am doing all this on my own.  If they garnish my wages, even at 10%, I will be taking a cardboard tv box from where I work and sleeping on the street from it.  I am a former english student and I plan to live my double secret live here.  And a word of beware to pig like collectors, I have more tricks up my sleeve than you ever could. 

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MegaPo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MegaPo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19/April/2004 at 9:32am

What a sad, sad story, torontoboy.  No matter how awful the student loan system has become (with banks running the show unsupervised), the situation should not drive people to poison their bodies with cigarettes.

And yes, it's a sad story -- and it's my story, too.  I'm 34 years old, ready to enter another year as a smoker, a habit I picked up after my life and career goals turned to ash.

Non-smokers, please don't try to solve our problems with quick-fix advice.  Trust me, we smokers are truly happy for you, and we envy your smoke-free lifestyle.  At the same time, you might not know what brought us to this point.

"Stress"?  "Frustration"?  "Anxiety"??  Those are all good guesses for the possible reason that I became addicted to this nasty habit.  However, I can assure you that the direct cause is not external.  I will never claim that "the bank made me start smoking," or "the government," or my mommy, or anybody else.

I started smoking when the ugly feelings took hold.  After the destruction of my finances (while still a student), I lost all hope of finishing my Ph.D.  My life's plans disappeared just like a confirmation-of-enrolment form in the care of CIBC.  =POOF!=

In my life, smoking didn't start as a reaction to stress, frustration, or anxiety.  Instead, it was plain-and-simple hopelessness that drew me to the cigarettes.  Lately, I have been trying to create a new plan for the next course of my life.  As I do so, I feel like quitting smoking is a possibility -- a very desirable possibility!

In the meantime, I must still "get over it," as they say.  Somehow, I must get past the fact that a greedy, callous policy manual at CIBC empowers their employees to destroy students' lives without guilt or remorse.  In fact, their policies prevent employees from doing the right thing or the fair thing, even after the damages have become obvious.

I guess I just have to get over it...  And the cigs aren't exactly helping the process along! 

--Sean

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hunter View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hunter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19/April/2004 at 10:17am
I have not taken up smoking or anything else since accumulating so much student loan debt, but I have noticed that I have been buying alot of tylenol and sleeping pills lately as the student loan debt is starting to bother me again, as I want to make certain plans in my life with my boyfriend, (because we are living together, some finance places want both of our credit reports - his is perfect - mine far from it).

So his dreams sometimes fail because of me, and that is not fair at all. But hey - who said life was fair.

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portia View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote portia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06/August/2004 at 1:03pm

Not a smoker yet....but I'm sure there is a bottle somewhere with my name on it...I understand how everyone is feeling the anxiety is killing me, it's nice to know that i'm not the only one going through this.

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mr depression View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mr depression Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/August/2004 at 11:50am

Damn, thats exactly what I am feeling after reading the whole story. I smoke and everything. Are we brothers by any chance???

I don;t know about you but i also feel like i will never be happy again even if i  imagine that I have no debt. I guess this incident of life has hit me a bit to hard.

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kevmetric View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kevmetric Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/August/2004 at 1:00am
I urgently recommend the following book, to smokers
and eaters of empty calories, Pepsi, Coke, fast
food, ignorant people:


Beating the Food Giants

at:


http://www.hacres.com/canada/bkfood.htm
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polyhymnia61 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote polyhymnia61 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/August/2004 at 9:04am

Eaters of ignorant people? lol...Wouldn't that be a SOLUTION??

Probably full of trans fat though...

Poly
(ex-smoker, 2 1/2 years & counting!)

 

Home is where you are allowed to prosper.
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6273kat View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 6273kat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/August/2004 at 9:55am

I have quit it all...No smoking, coffee or eating out. All with the idea of saving money and getting through the crunch.

I talked with my Dad the other day and explained that I am now caffeine free...He said,"Oh so no more bad habits eh?"

I told him "No it is going on eight weeks since I splurged on a Timmy's, the only bad habit I have left is chewing my fingernails, and I only do that because I haven't figured out yet, how quiting will help me financially!

It really is getting pathetic when your father has to tell you to lighten up and live a little.

 

 

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portia View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote portia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/August/2004 at 1:59pm

I know what you mean..my mother had to re-assure me that the student loan police were not going to knock at my door at 2:00 in the morning.

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6273kat View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 6273kat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/August/2004 at 5:27pm

I am presently preparing for my spouses' Rev Can audit...I guess it wasn't enough for me to have had to barely survived through those years...Why don't we just rehash them and see if I can't come up with more money to owe!!

It never ends!!!!

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote boredatwork Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15/August/2004 at 12:43pm
I smoked for 12 years. I quit over 3 years ago. Stress definetly leaves one open to light up. I look at how much the things costs these days and I don't know how people buy them. Quitting was one of the hardest things I've tried doing, but the pride I feel knowing that my will was not broken by that garbage and that I am no longer giving my money to that BS industry is well worth it. I also quit paying for and watching television, I am always glad to be oblivious to whatever new reality show the fools at my work are talking about all day. :)
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toofrustrated View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote toofrustrated Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15/August/2004 at 8:30pm
Well, I have never smoked or drank in my life, but let me tell you, there have been many moments in the last months since my loans went into repayment, since people stopped listening and/or caring that I am human, and that I have a life to live, that I have seriously considered it. Anything to give my mind a little break from the stress. I handily live across the street from a liquor store and a convenience store, so if the mood gets low enough, and the urge gets strong enough, I don't have far to go .
Don't trust Tricura
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 6273kat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22/August/2004 at 10:45pm

Follow up:

I just wanted to let you know my Audit is over and nowhere near as painful as I thought it would be!!

Phew...you live all of these horrible experiences and you start to expect them all to end the same way...

CCRA can actually be very nice...Now who would have thought that?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MetisRebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24/August/2004 at 9:59am
If yer gonna smoke--find a good bootlegger
Metis Rebel
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BigFatherA Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25/August/2004 at 4:00pm
Just don't smoke near the still. . .
BigFatherA
Priest & Teacher
non carborundum illegitemi est
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