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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Forum LockedMy student loan story...

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mystix View Drop Down
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Joined: 29/March/2007
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mystix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: My student loan story...
    Posted: 29/March/2007 at 2:40pm

I am a single mother.  I had graduated from high school in 1993, and within the year I was pregnant.  I was on social assistance for about two years and then in the fall on September 1996 I went to college, and discovered that I loved learning.  And the student loan program allowed me to do that.

By the time I graduated in 2003 with my Bachelor of Education, I had also received an associate of arts degree, certificate of liberal arts and a Bachelor of General Studies.  Being in BC (not sure about the other provinces), I was able to receive Loan Remission due to three of my degrees, which forgave my loans.  However, I ended up with 25,000+, 26,000+ and 8900+ owing to the National Student Loan Service Bureau, and Royal Bank (the later two - provincial and federal).
 
Since I have graduated in April 2003, I have been faithful to pay back my loans, $630 each month, while I had a fulltime teaching job.  It shocked me how little money went to the principal (for example: one loan 285 month, 110 principal, 175 interest).  There were two occasions with the NSLSB where they told me I had missed a payment, and the entire time I have had my account with them set up for automatic monthly payments.  If I had not phoned them, they were not going to bother phoning me.
 
Recently, I have moved and I am now just a teacher on call (substitute) and my monthly income has gone down.  Thus, for the first time I have been able to qualify for interest relief.  The nightmare this process has been is incredible.  The NSLSB has recently changed their process for applying that you only need a one month statement, and no proof of income, just an estimate, whereas the provincial portion of my royal bank loan wants 3 months of paystubs and any other income. 
 
I have high hopes of using up my interest relief in order to get my loan reduced by the debt reduction program.  However I have found two different statements about the DR program: the forms at canlearn.ca state that I have to have exhausted 30 months of interest relief.  But the canlearn site (I believe - maybe just the BC one) states that I need to use up the 30 months plus another 54 months before I can get debt reduction.  I am really confused.
 
Also I have been experiencing great frustration with the bureaucracy invovled in this process, as each person I talk to at NSLSB or the RBC Student Loans, seem to tell me different things.  Thanks to some of the postings I have read on here, I now know to write down the person's name and everything they tell me.  It is just SO FRUSTRATING. 
 
My son is in grade six now, and I shake my head sometimes when I realize, he will be graduated university and beyond before I even finish paying off my student loan.  Even worse, I am a taxpaying member of society.  I teach children, and I do a very good job at it.  I am no longer on social assistance, and I have bettered myself.  That is what the government wanted... and I feel like I still have to live at a very modest level, or acquire credit card debt.
 
I have no issue with paying back my loan, after all  I did borrow it.  But how about at non-interest status,.... or if I have been paying my loan for 6 months faithfully then dropping a .5% in the interest rate?  I highly value my education, however, I am not sure about the price tag that the student loan people are putting on it... almost double (amoritization over 14.5 years) what I initially borrowed.
 
In closing, I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their experiences.  I am the most informed of my circle of friends and acquaintances when it comes to the student loan process... however I learned a lot today, and I will be sending on this website to people I know, for them to access this wealth of information.
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happy-pants View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote happy-pants Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30/March/2007 at 1:30pm
Hi. I just found this site last night. I wish I had known about it years ago. I read your story and I too have the joy of 600$ per month over 14.5 years. I started with 60,000 owing in 1998 and I've been paying monthly for 9 years-- except for a couple periods of interest relief.  I'm new to B.C.  I dragged my husband here kicking and screaming. I am fortunate to have a continuing position with Maple Ridge school district.  My husband is a mechanic... no student debt for him.
We're from Manitoba and so are my loans-- no such thing as debt remission/forgiveness in MB (this makes me bitter). I'm 35 and still living like a student.  We're renting a basement suite-- it's nice but again...we're renting a basement suite.  We're too old for this. I'm chock full of resentment when I think about the interest I'm paying-- and comparing it to student loan repayment in Europe. Why are we being punished?
When I went to banks and Credit Unions in Winnipeg looking for a mortgage, their jaws dropped when they saw my student loan amounts. What a feeling. We're a rare breed. It's nice to meet someone who understands this crippling debt.  Good luck to you in your teaching career.
gil
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