| # | First Name | Last Name | Please provide a comment or personal story. |
|---|
| 601 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Please take the time to read and think about what student loans can have on someone starting out. I know some people who may never have a house of there own because they are paying everything on a student loan. |
| 602 | Joni | Rose | I am a Registered Nurse, and while my income is good, I struggle with every day bills and eagerly wait for my pay check so that my bills can get paid. I pay $700 a month in student loan which has prevented me from having ANY extra funds to even take a weekend vacation. I work long hard hours, shift work included, and am in desperate need of even a short vacation. But I live as though I am making minimum wage, I wonder if all the hard work of studying for my education was even worth it to live in such financial despair. I have stretched out my student loan payments for as long as I can...not so I would have extra money, but so I can actually pay my bills. We dont drive nice vehicles, in fact they are in the garage more than they are out. And we live in a tiny older home because that is all we could afford. My student loan payments are causing us to drown in debt...we see no end to this. |
| 603 | Erica | Hurley | I only had one student loan, a very small, under 6,000 over my 5 years of University. I worked hard to not have a high student loan. Even with this small loan it has been the worse experience . From constant phone calls, asking to repay the amount in full, threatening remarks, etc. |
| 604 | Tara | Neal | I strongly support the work that you are doing. Fortunatly my Province (NL) has reduced the interest on our loans to prime, but there's still more to do. |
| 605 | Candy | Randell | People will avoid higher education to avoid the stuggle with student loan payments in the future! |
| 606 | mandy | morris | ONE LOAN NOT 6 |
| 607 | Orena | Hann | I agree, something has to be done! |
| 608 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Students loans make it difficult to get a mortgage and we are reluctant to have children due to our debts. Having a degree doesn't guarantee a job and my husband is reluctant to do more education because he does not want to incur any more debt. According to the Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms all education including post secondary should be free. I can't believe how accurate your comments in a recent newpaper article I have read are. |
| 609 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I couldn't get a loan after my first year because I am married. I apparently have too much income to borrow for school which isnt the case. As a result I'm forced to work full time and sleep about 3 hours a night for the last 4 years. During the summer months while i'm not in school, my loan accrues interest. This is just rediculous |
| 610 | Janine | Callahan | interest rates are so high that i have been paying monthly for over a year and my interest is not paid off. My hard earned cash is not even paying off my loan its paying off mt interest. |
| 611 | Krista | Payne | I have just completed a science degree and am looking for employment. My student loan payments right now are huge and over 10 years I will pay almost as much in interest as I have recieved in loans. How can anyone get ahead in life after obtaining their degree if they have to pay huge amounts of interest? |
| 612 | Jennifer | Mahar | I have high student loans from obtaining my nursing degree.I would like to do a masters in nursing, but student loans are a real problem |
| 613 | Andrea | Hall | Firstly I can say that I could write a novel about this. Here is my most recent battle:
In October 2005 I requested information about a debt reduction program that my MIL had told me about. First I was told that it did not exist. Then I was told that I was not eligable. Then they wanted the name and information about the person who told me about it.
My next set of paper work for continued Interest Relief was due to go in in November. They claimed they did not receive it, as per usual. I mailed it and faxed it. This battle of "we didn't receive anything" lasted until June 2006 enough time for my debt to be seriously behind. All the time the RBC Atlantic Student loan center was waiting for MANY payments since the National Student Loan Center was NOT contacting them, but the RBC center could not process paperwork on me on their own.
From January 2006 to June 2006 I could not speak with anyone at the general call center for the National Student Loan Service Center as I was directed to a "local office" in Montreal where I was living. The only employee there seemed to be a young man by the name of Yves.
In June 2006 I faxed all my interest relief paper work to Yves and two separate numbers I had for the National Student Loan Service Center. This was about the 3rd or 4th time since November 2005.
I was told it was received but could not be processed as they did not receive my income information for May 2006. The paperwork for proof of income was on two sheets. Summaries from two employers. All payment information from December 2005 to that date in June 2006 were on the same sheet of paper. There were two sheets, one from each employer.
The NSLSC did not acknowledge receipt of the paper work again. However, if Yves received the other information he must have received May's since it was on the same sheet of paper. He could not tell me which employers information was missing and which he had.
I re-submitted that same information 3 times within 5-7 days. The re-submissions were "never received".
I was not supplied with an address to send it in mail nor in person.
July 2005 the RBC center informed me my loan was going to collections.
In August 2006 I was told that 9 months had passed since I was suppose to have submitted information, that I failed to do that and was no longer eligable for interest relief. My loan was due in full. About $33 000 total.
In October 2006 I received a letter saying that the National Student Loan Service Center had contacted Revenue Canada and all tax monies to be paid to me would be taken against my debt until my debt was paid.
Even now, I can not speak to anyone at any center about this because my "loan is is collections". I get calls daily from a collections agency as my $11 000 or so debt still being held by RBC is payable in full, immediately and they will offer no payment agreement. In full, now or nothing. I "had the time to pay on monthly installments, I neglected to do that so I can pay in full" is what I am told.
I did everything I was suppose to do repeatedly, EXCEPT pay on my loan when I was making about $12 000/year. I could not afford about $500/month in payments. That is what they were asking for, combination from both places.
When I asked why it was so much I was told it was because I had a limited time to repay the money and since I had been in interest relief for a long time. Apparently the longer in interest relief, the higher and higher monthly payments get! |
| 614 | Venessa | Temple | Something has to be done here!! |
| 615 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I am a university graduate who is TRYING to pay off student loans. They are a hinderance because of the high interest rates. I could take out a personal loan for a lower interest rate but then can not avail of any tax credits (even though the credits are very little). I will be paying off student loans FOREVER. I do not have a problem paying back money I owe but maybe the government of canada can take a lesson from the government of newfoundland and labrador and lower the interest rate to at least prime. STOP GETTING RICH OFF OF MY LOANS!!! |
| 616 | Anonymous | Anonymous | How will I ever get ahead with student loans... who can think of buying a house, or anything else! |
| 617 | Tony | George | I beleive in everything this stands for. The government Rapes young people with an education and seems to support young people who don't (gives the uneducated unemployment or some kind of grant to get unemployment). Why not give them an education instead or at least give us a tax-break. I totally beleive in free education and thats the way it should be. |
| 618 | Heather | Burgess | As someone with a B.Comm (02)I can't believe how unqualified these student loan officers are to actually "assess" those receiving loans. Each year i made the same amount during the summer and my tuition (expenses etc) were the same, yet every year i received vastly different amounts. I honestly believe this system is arbitrary as to who receives/does not receive funds and how much. As a married student, my husband was making only $10/at the time and yet expected to contribute $5000 to my expected contributions. It doesn't matter that we both had a perfect credit rating with up to a $25000 credit limit --i couldn't even get enough to pay tuition from student loans! What a friggin joke. Now i'm finished and have FOUR student loan payments--at this point i'm almost ahead to take out a personal loan and pay off the damn things and be done with it. Student loans make loan sharks look pretty good. |
| 619 | Amy | Seymour | Interest rates are way too high!! |
| 620 | Kristy | Cameron | National Student Loans are the stupidest people in the world. They are rude and they do not care that they are sucking every penny from you. The thing that bothers me the most is they screwed up my banking information, blamed me and refused to let me fix it. I just wanted to catch up on the payment I missed because of their stupidity. They told me there was no way to get caught up. I could not mail them money, I could not drop money off to them, I would forever be behind in my payments. Many many horror stories later I keep a bank account open ONLY for student loans because I do not want to change my banking information with them again and miss another payment. If they only kept a paper trail of every coversation they have. |
| 621 | Isabella | Mori | I once thought that I would have served my country by becoming more educated. Instead, I feel that I have made the worst mistake in my life, and that I face years and years of financial hardship during which I cannot even begin to contribute to the Canadian economy, much less be a productive and involved citizen.
I feel like a shadow
person, shoved to the sidelines by day-to-day poverty with no hope of ever climbing out in future. Is this what getting an education is supposed to be about?
I feel like a complete fool on good days, and suicidal on bad ones. What good can possibly come of this, to myself, our larger society, or to Canada itself?
I want to pay what I owe, but not as a subject of intimidation, not as someone living in fear of collection agencies or lawsuits, not as someone so stressed I sometimes think of leaving Canada altogether to start over somewhere else.
What's happened? What's happened to a country I love that it would allow its citizens to be treated as hunted criminals simply for being poor? |
| 622 | Amanda | Fifield | I am in newfoundland and this place is jobless to begin with. I went to a private college for graphic communications and design, and this was my dream. Now I am faced with a high interest rate and about 30,000 dollars in debt and I can't get a job here. Even if I move, its going to take me 10-15 years to pay it back. Education used to be way less, and now its becoming impossible for the youth of today. And nobody better give me "well you should have looked over the contract" because when your only 18 years old and are trying to figure out what you want with your life, signing a piece of paper is really nothing to you if you think its going to get you a nice job. |
| 623 | Kim | Noseworthy | I graduated in 2000. I have been paying interest only on both loans for the last two years. The government provides a tax credit why not allow the interest to be taken off my income. The system is not helping us Newfoundlanders stay in the Newfoundland. |
| 624 | Anonymous | Anonymous | If I pay this I can't afford to feed my kids which is hard on minimum wage at the best of times. By the time I can get relief from bankruptcy I will be well into my late 50's. Have no security in home equity or RRSP's. No way to provide for my children's education and I sure as heck am not going to recommend Student Loans. AVOID STUDENT LOANS - it's just not worth it! You make more on minimum wage which is likely to be your wage anyways. Canada doesn't want all of it's people to advance financially, only the rich! |
| 625 | Anonymous | Anonymous | It isn't fair to give graduates a chance to succeed in life. It's like the government and banks set us up for failure before we get a chance. |
| 626 | Jennifer | Lamswood | I commend you for your efforts in this area. Something definitely needs to be done about our student loan program. |
| 627 | Tom | Hasselman | Student loans have ruined my life and continue to make it impossible for me to contribute to Canada's economy. Because of my tainted credit I will NEVER be a home owner, NEVER own a vehicle, NEVER be able to contribute to an RRSP. Thanks for profiting off of my hardships and you really encourage post secondary education |
| 628 | Jody | Griffin | I am in agreement that something has to be done. Interest rates are outrageous... |
| 629 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Student loan payments take up to 1/4 of my monthly income for the next 10 years. |
| 630 | Tyler | Charlebois | I am pleased that my organization the College Student Alliance (CSA) has now partnered with the Coalition to clean up our student loan system in Canada. |
| 631 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I am a young woman with a young family and feel that I will never have my loan paid off. I would love to have the extra money to put forth on my children's education's but am unable to do many things due to my fair size student loan payment that will take me approx. 7-10 years to pay off. By that time I will not be a young woman anymore and my children would not have enough built up for their education. I guess that the cycle will continue with them if there are no changes made. Maybe that is what the government wants!! |
| 632 | Michael | Monks | a |
| 633 | Jacqueline | Decker | Had to retrain due to job cuts. Took out a student loan to get this training and received employment immediately. However, now I'm unemployed again, separated, and single mom. I agreed to pay $50. monthly to avoid default and my interest per month is $46.63. So I guess I'll be dead before it gets paid off. |
| 634 | Anonymous | Anonymous | way too much debt to get an education that can only be a benefit to the world we live in |
| 635 | Clarence (Duke) | Stregger | I am the retired Executive Director of a non profit charity that assists indiduals and families withserious debt and financial problems. During my time ,I witnessed thousands of young prople who were just unable to work their way out of Student loan through no fault of thier own. More must be done and I support the work of "studentfairness" |
| 636 | Adam | Bernath | The current student loan system is a complete nightmare. The interest rates are criminal.
If I had known what a sick, greedy business this system was, I would have never borrowed a dime. It is one thing to pay back what I borrowed, but this interest rate gives me little hope of ever being debt free. |
| 637 | Dr. Hedy | Fry, MP Vancouver Centre | After having met with the Coalition and other stakeholders, it is with great enthusiasm that I support these initiatives. |
| 638 | Jody | Jollimore | As a student with much debt and more on the way, I agree that something needs to be done to loosen the strangle hold on students. It's vital to the economic prosperity of this country. |
| 639 | Lee-Ann | Williams | I currently have a student loan in excess of $65,000.00. I am a single parent with 3 children. I live in Mill Bay, on Vancouver Island. The housing prices here are very high. I live in Mill Bay because the house prices in Victoria are unaffordable. We have lost 3 nurses in the Operating Room where I work because they cannot afford the housing in Victoria. One has a student loan in excess of $60,000.00. The current loan forgiveness programs run far short of meeting the needs of today's young workforce, particularly in the field of Nursing. Something needs to be done, I cannot work overtime and care for 3 children on my own. There must be a better way to manage financially and that is through loan forgiveness.
thank-you
i would be glad to send you a copy of a letter I wrote to the Health Minister of British Columbia |
| 640 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I am totally in agreement
with the above statements.The present
student loan system is unweildy,convoluted and tens of thousands undergo horrendeous stress and denial of basic material comforts
as a result. |
| 641 | Anonymous | Anonymous | More then half of my montly loan payments are going towards the interest on the loans. I have no issue with taking responsibility and paying off my student loans. However, I do take issue with paying a big bank 15 to 20 thousand dollars in interest. It is coming to a point in time where education is a luxury for those who are wealthy. This is making it nearly impossible for those who have grown up with little money to rise above their circumstance. I suppose it's just another way to increase the gap between the rich and poor. |
| 642 | Stephanie | Adriaans | Where do I begin? And how do I trim this down to a reasonable size?! I agree with each of the 8 points and have had difficulties with most of them. Student Loans Canada has made my life hell over the past year and because of their lack of coordination, my credit rating has been compromised and likely will be for many years into the future, despite the fact that my loan is now paid in full. Their lack of training and internal communication made every phone call to them laughable because I received different information from every person I talked to. The fact that this is a government funded, billion dollar operation, supposedly to assist the young people who are poised to be running this country in the very near future is an absolute joke. |
| 643 | Jason | Savoy | There are so many of us who have taken on so much debt in an effort to make something of ourselves. It's long past due that stood together to get this on a national agenda. It just angers me when I am told that we are whinning, and aught to be thankful, or that, as a younger person we made bad choices in borrowing for an education.I feel duped by the government. |
| 644 | Shawn | Rouse | Student loans are a major drain on our household. |
| 645 | Dallas | Biddiscombe | I borrowed money to get an education, I made the mistake of going to CDI college in Abbotsford, BC. I did not get an education and they should have topay my loans. $30,000.00 and climbing. |
| 646 | Lynette | Niles | While I am grateful to have received student loans to attend university, the repayment experience has been onerous, inflexible and unforgiving. After a year or two of not having a job that afforded me enough income to start repaying my loan, I now have a good-paying job but am crippled monthly by $700 student loan payments. |
| 647 | Rachel | Anderson | I have had significant problems repaying my student loan, I have had an incredibly hard time contacting anyone in the student loan office and even after a year of trying have not gotten an email or a letter regarding my loan repayment. |
| 648 | Marisa | Haltom | There defintely needs to be some improvements and some revising of policies regarding the "overaward". I was not informed at the time of withdraw (due to health reasons) that I would have money deducted off the top of my next loan I applied for. Now that I'm ready to go back to school, I feel I am being punished and may not be able to due to this stupid policy regarding overawards. If I had of known at the time (some notice would have been GREAT informing me of my options) that I could have paid it back at the time of withdrawl I WOULD HAVE!! I was not told this and was unaware until 2 years later when I decided to go back to school. This is ridiculous, I am a single mom of two children, and can barely afford to go to school on the max amount there's no way I can do it if the overaward is automatically taken away from the max amount they will give me. Why do they care? I have to pay it all back anyways? If I didn't go to school I would pay it off in monthly payments as I have been... so why handicap me when all I want to do is get an education to start a career and be a productive citizen and independant mother to my children. This is unjust if you ask me, and the priorities are extremely screwed up. The system stinks, and needs some desperate revisions. I am not some punk kid who wanted to piss away a student loan. I had medical reasons for leaving and was under the impression that I would just have to pay the remainder of the loan that I had already recieved (tuition was reimbersed to lendor) with all my other loans. This make no sense, and is simply unfair.
Thank You, for the opportunity to speak my mind. I am very upset about this and the uncertainty of my future and my childrens future do to this inappropriate policy.
Marisa Haltom |
| 649 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I borrowed the money, I'm reponsible for paying it back. The federal government shuts out all those of us that went through a job loss or a divorce or some other interupting circumstance, in which we were just a bit slow to respond, and like in my case, I thought there was nothing that could be done, until it was too late. Collection agencies break the law routinely with me. I live in Virtual fear of a letter of phone call at work threatening legal action etc etc. I feel like I am living in a virtual work-house. I fully acknowledge my responsibilities, but there has to be a better way to deal with this. The banks and the government are happy to hand out the money and pat us on the heads, but do not provide resources, or adequete education for young people, with regards to the harsh reality awaiting them after graduation. Hopefully something will happen soon, before too many others are caught up in this tax on the working poor. |
| 650 | sam | baas | I had been making my s/l interest payments as it was all that I could afford at the time when a few unplanned events occurred in my life leading our family into bankruptcy - when I was told that my s/l would not be included!!!! We are just back on our feet & now my loans have been sent to collection!!! Payments have never been easy - dealing with s/l personnel has been a nightmare. Student loans should be interest free or set up according to income level... the government of canada should be ashamed of themselves for even thinking that it is okay to profit off of students. |
