| # | First Name | Last Name | Please provide a comment or personal story. |
|---|
| 551 | adam | krupper | the demands of this petition should be implemented! |
| 552 | Jade | Tremblay | A student loan is just that, a loan meaning that in the end the money will be repaid so what is the big deal with lending me the money? Just because my parents have -this- amount of money, doesn't mean that I have -this- amount of money. Especially in a household where there is more then one child attending college. |
| 553 | Joan | Pearson | I am signing on behalf of my son. I was also a university student once but I received free tuition and grants, so mine is paid off. |
| 554 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I borrowed over 65,000 in student loans. |
| 555 | Maureen | Sawasy | I pay more on the interest for my student loan than I do on the actual amount I originally borrowed! I feel like I'm never going to see the end! |
| 556 | Cindy | Petterson | My daughter will be attending university in the fall.
When I attended university,1977-1980 it took me 2 weeks at $6.00/hr to pay for my first year's tuition.
Now it would be well over $75/hr for 80 hours to earn tuition! How can a young person legally earn this much money! |
| 557 | Connie | Gibbs | AS a financial aid advisor with over 20 years experience working with students, I endorse the recommendations of the coalition and believe their implementation would go a long way to remedying the negative impacts on students. Over the past three decades I have witnessed the deterioration of the Canada Student Loan Program and an increasing burden placed on students which can affect their lives for many years after graduation. |
| 558 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Canada needs to recognize that student loans are not for providing profit to the government. I have no problem paying back my loan, but the large amount of interest adds insult to injury. |
| 559 | Gordon | Pollock | In addition to my student loan, I have a CIBC student line of credit. Now, since the loan is issued by the government (Ontario/Federal) and not a for-profit business, one would think that it would have a lower rate of interest than the for-profit line of credit. CIBC charges me Prime + 2.0%, while the federal gov't charges Prime + 2.5%. If CIBC can make money off of Prime+2, why is the federal gov't charging me Prime+2.5? |
| 560 | Stefan | Wrangle | Education should not be a matter of wealth. Let everyone have a chance to a future! It has never been fair play to kick on those already laying on the ground. |
| 561 | Jennifer | P. | Its hard enough trying to find a decent job and starting your life once your done college/university. Having loans PLUS the amount of interest you have to pay makes that even harder! |
| 562 | Michael | Glover | Too many people I know are struggling with outrageous student debt. A generation of young professionals who can't afford children, houses, or RRSP's. We are robbing the future economically, culturally and physically. Do you miss serfdom? No worries --Canada, one of the richest countries in the HISTORY of the world is ready to bring it back for you. |
| 563 | Heather | Harvey | Loan payments are stopping people I know from being able to move forward with their lives. They are unable to qualify for mortgages, unable to save, and are working multiple jobs just to get by. Something needs to be done to assist these people. |
| 564 | Anonymous | Anonymous | The present Canadian student loans program, is simply a means of inducing indentured servitude on a generation of students who seek only the freedom promised by post secondary education |
| 565 | Catherine | Gordon | As a parent, I am already starting to put away money for my son's education, as I am concerned that by the time he is old enough to attend University, it will be beyond an "ordinary" person's financial capabilities. I attended University on a full government grant, and still worked two jobs to support myself while there. I am increasingly concerned wtih the growing trend towards education being only for the affluent. |
| 566 | Eric | Liu | - |
| 567 | Finnian | Lynch | As a young person who has come from a low income family and has been working for 6 years since highschool, I see post secondary education as a massive undertaking, not because of the time or work, but rather the debt associated with it. It seems counter-productive to punish those borrowing when their education will likely be contributing in a greater way to the economy. Why tax poor students more and big business less? |
| 568 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I was once a student who paid loans to go to school. |
| 569 | Marissa | Jean | I pay approximately 40% of my monthly loan payment to interest on my loan, it's outrageous. I pay less interest on my student loan from the bank. |
| 570 | Shannon | Byrne | I have been paying off my student loans for 4 years now. In reviewing my tax statements I see that almost all of the amount I have paid is interest. It seems I will never be able to get out of this debt. I am now 34, and I am worried that this massive debt means I will not be able to afford to have children. |
| 571 | khanh | tran | The future of Canada is depended on how educated our young generations will be. Canadian government must put this issue as its top priority ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to get a higher education. How about reimbursting the costs of education back overtime with a set of stippulations such as students must remain as Canadian workers for x number of years, completing respective programs gets more back, lower income jobs receive more versus lawer, doctor, or so on types.
Bottom line is actions must be taken from a dedicated specialize branch that is well informed about this issue. |
| 572 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Why is it taking this long to have a "fair" Canada Student Loan Program? What percentage of the country are Canadian citizens and taxpayers have student loans and will be faced with repaying them the rest of their lives, because of long-overdue FAIRNESS??? |
| 573 | Anonymous | Anonymous | It's about time!! |
| 574 | Chun | Xie | I am paying 8.5% interest rate now. It is fun. Thanks for supporting. |
| 575 | Dan | Perron | OSAP fucked me .. good. |
| 576 | Iulia | Babitski | I expect to graduate with a hefty student loan, and hope that the 6 Month Interest-Free Grace Period can be reinstated. |
| 577 | maria | sutherland | My husband and I struggle to pay my $620 payment every month. Last year, I paid over $3000 in interest. My husband and I make just over the amount allowed in order to continue interest relief. My biggest issue is this: we live in Langley, a suburb of Vancouver, where the cost of living is atrocious. Our gas/insurance bill every month is $600, our mortgage is $1800, our property taxes are $2000 a year, and daycare is almost $1000 a month. But the government still uses the same income amount allowed as someone living in Saskatchewan (where my grandmother just sold her home for $3500). It's unfair and unreasonable. Give me a break! |
| 578 | Karen | Osachoff | i support this coalition. |
| 579 | Bernard | Kadosh | By the time I got out of school and was ready to start paying off my student loans, my debt had been split into 4 separate entities without my knowledge and with no easy way of tracking what I owed when and to whom. By the time I had it figured out, two of my debts had gone into collections and my credit still suffers for it. |
| 580 | Kendra | Kennedy | I was put in to collections by Scotia Bank for my student loan in 2003 - I have been paying $200 per month to ARC for the past 3 and a half years and to date my loan is approximately $2000 higher than when it initially went to collections. FED UP |
| 581 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Filed several Total and Permanent Disability application forms, went thru DoED Ombudsman. What a long nightmare it has been. |
| 582 | Raul | Wiens | Although it is my own fault that I have not been able to repay my loan (even though I am on the right track right now) the government should seriously look into creating a proper GOVERNMENT agency or commission to oversea the loans out there and NOT use Collection Agencies. |
| 583 | Michael | Farrelly | An educated population is requisite for a healthy democratic society - it is ludicrous that the Canadian government is discouraging higher education by charging interest on student loans. |
| 584 | Margaret | Kenefick | Please add me to your e-mail list. This situation appies to my daughter's student loan..she doesn't have access at present so will forward info on. Thanks. |
| 585 | Michelle | Lariviere-Ranger | I had a portion(approx. $5,000) forgiven on my student loans back in 1996. When my husband and I bought our first home in 1998, we borrowed the extra money to pay off the student loans that I was still paying on for a clean state. Not 6 months later, I began having harrassing calls, yelling screaming etc. telling me that I owed, $5200!!! Well according to RBC, it was never forgiven according to their paper work and I had to come up with the $ asap. Although I was unemployed, my husband and I worked out a mediocure payment of $75.00 per month(direct withdrawal), no interest for 70 months! Well low and behold they(RBC) have sent me to ARC two times in the past 2 years, for failure to pay!!! When I speak to them, they said they withdraw the $ manually and are not sure what went wrong, but will take it out next month!! |
| 586 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I am currently in default with my student loans - i was put into default the day after i was discharged from bankruptcy - bad choices - i am paying what i can every month to each collection agency but i am not getting anywhere - it's frustrating and hard because i dont make a lot of money and am a single mother. |
| 587 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I have been trying to pay back my loan since 2004 They take my income tax return every year and dont send me anykind of notice. I am paying a monthly set amount right now so they do not call me anymore but I have gotten calls were my roomate picks up the phone and the collenctions agent said he was my father and it was very urgent to get a hold of me lucky enough my roommate new the sound of my dads voice. They are lying bastards that charge to much interest. |
| 588 | Melissa | Feaver | My applications for interest relief have been lost several times, I have been denied because one month I made a bit more in commission, I was sent to collections because when I called into the centre I was not given the information stated in my file to tell me thus resulting in me being sent to collections and my loans had to be recalled. However, NSLSC informed ScotiaBank that I had been denied interest relief so ScotiaBank separated my federal and provincial loans and sent them off to collections. I paid interest on my federal loan portion and had it put in good standing with the bank but was not told my provincial portion was not a part of this and it was not recalled at the same time. I learned of this when my tax return was taken to pay it off- even though I had received a good standing letter and was given student loans!!! Now I don't know who has loans, why they get separated and how to pay. If I get documentation only coming from one source about loans, I assume it is for my loan through them not that it gets separated! |
| 589 | Anonymous | Anonymous | More laws should be in place to protect Canadians and their rights. |
| 590 | Jenneffer | Owens | have paid on my loan for approx. 10 yrs. with little reduction on principal - most of the payments have gone to interest. |
| 591 | Tonya | Harris | I have been paying my student loans for over five years now and the balance has hardly moved. I can only afford to make the minimum payments so I guess it will take the rest of my life to repay my loan. |
| 592 | Anonymous | Anonymous | My Fiance and I are trying to get a mortgage to buy our first home instead of renting. Both of us have good jobs in our field of study but it seems like we are only working to pay off our loans. Not much money left over to save for a downpayment. Seems like we can't get ahead. I think that if you get a degree from your own province and stay and work here, the provincial government should waive the provincial part of the student loan. |
| 593 | Crystal | Harris | I think the interest rate is outrageous when having to pay back your student loan. It's enough to have to spend years and years paying off debt, but to be paying that much interest is ridiculus! |
| 594 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Difficulty moving onward in life (ie. purchase home, start family, etc...) due to excessive on-going Student Loan Payments for both me and my Wife. |
| 595 | Anonymous | Anonymous | To pay interest on a student loan is crazy. Banks and government should not be profiting from us. You go to university for 5 years, get deep into debt, graduate and live as poor or worse off as if you never went to university at all, all because of student loan debt. |
| 596 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Student Loans are making it impossible for me to live. I was fortunate enough to find a good job once I graduated but with relocation and loan payments I can barely survive. |
| 597 | Douglas | Gough | The following is a link to a previous rant about my student loan experiences.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=6556371&blogID=226989628&MyToken=469556ba-dd7c-462b-864f-735342462b71 |
| 598 | T | Weaver | I believe it is a shame to loan students (myself included) money with such a high interest rate. These loans are suppsoed to help us better our situations, not leave us in debt for 20 years. |
| 599 | Greg | Nash | I am fed up with this badly run system that makes you out to be a criminal. The hounding by creditors is exhausting and demeaning. If I had the means I would pay why can't they see that? I pay my rent, I pay my food, and in the end I have nothing left over yet they want more. When a person demonstrates hardship how can they go after them like this? All I'm trying to do is keep my head above water. |
| 600 | Jason | Keats | I was forced to pay intrest one summer because i did not get my letter in on time that i will be attending school the next fall. They have it on file, but i was late. And now I have bad credit becuase of i did not pay it on time...also the interest rate is a little much |
