| # | First Name | Last Name | Please provide a comment or personal story. |
|---|
| 651 | Jordan | MacDonald | I don't like the student loans system in this country. |
| 652 | Anonymous | Anonymous | A horrific experience, 5 different loans, abosolute confusion. Treated like crap even though I hadn't missed 1 payment. A 13000 surprise loan years later. I couldn't even get a payout statement. Some of the most incosiderate people I have ever spoken with. I thank God I finally have them paid. Please Help Student Debtors... |
| 653 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I am currently enrolled at Niagara College and by the time I am done I will owe at least 5 yrs worth of student loans.
I don't think what is being asked is outrageous. It makes perfect sense to help us out if they want us to stay and work in canada. |
| 654 | Lisa | Holbrook | My student loan situation has been a nightmare.
Last October I applied for what should have been a standard continuation of interest relief because I was unemployed.
RBC told me to apply through them - a month later I found out I was supposed to apply to National Student loan Center.
The whole application got de-railed because of misinformation from RBC and despite having no income, my application for interest relief was rejected because the bank put it into collections and refused to take it out of collections or take responsiblity for their mistake.
We need recourse for such an abysmal system!
I've had horrible, rude and/or threatening phone calls constantly from the bank's collection agency. =( |
| 655 | Angella | Gaudet | i have 2 student loans one from national student loan and provincial student loan and there's no way i can't pay over $300 a month on what i'm making. i'm not sure who the government think i am to fork over so much money on a part time job. |
| 656 | Anonymous | Anonymous | The Canada Student Loans people did not inform me that money was being taken out of account for only 1 of 2 seperate loans. After 9 months of not paying loan #2, I learned of situation only after I applied for interest relief. Loan went to collections and then began to develop problems with all creditors; who began to demand owed monies in full (credit cards). Concrete evidence of inaccurate record keeping, yet MPs and Ministers and NSLSC all believe Canada Student Loans can do no wrong. No recourse. No way to dispute. They have "carte blanche" to do whatever they please to me. Sickening. |
| 657 | melanie | guitard | i am currently starting to pay it back and already see that im paying more in interest than on the capital itself, so it would be a good thing to have some changes.. |
| 658 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I currently owe nearly 40,000$ in student loans and am now being forced to work 65 hours a week in order to make ends meet...the interest on this loan will prevent me from paying this off for another 15 years!!! Also...I get no statement and so have no idea where my money is going and how I can manage it!!!
FIX IT!!!!!!!! |
| 659 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I believe that the hard work and determination that a student gives to better their futures should have nothing but rewards. Instead the government makes sure that most of us are forever in debt and can only survive "in the real world" if we have wealthy families, no children and are satisfied being poor, hungry and/or homeless. That $50,000 piece of paper should at least be able to give a new grad some security, but instead it gives false hope. |
| 660 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Borrow the max, then move to the states. Jane Stewart stole $1B and got away with it. fuck 'em. |
| 661 | Anna | Colson | It has been frustrating dealing with student loans. They make everything so difficult. One bank will tell me something, National Student Loans will tell me something different. They have given me the runaround so many times. |
| 662 | Anonymous | Anonymous | CIBC has not given me a statement in 7 years and I don't even think I owe them money. Yet their collectors keep calling and are very rude I might add! |
| 663 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Re-payment should be driectly linked to employment income. |
| 664 | Kathleen | O'Neil | All the points made in this petition are excellent and I believe would help students to actually pay their student loans back. Both my husband and I have student loans. In the first couple years, I applied for interest relief and used that time and money to pay off my husbands loans. We paid off $15000 in loans in less than 2 years, while I was a stay at home mom with 3 children and my husband was just getting started. We were also able to save for a (small) house in that time. Mind you my husbands minimum payment was only $200 a month.
My interest relief ran out and we had to start paying on my loans. I was hoping for an extra year before the interest relief ran out, but I miscalculated. My loan payment is $600 per month, and while we are able to make the payments, there is no room for extras. WE have no savings, we never take trips, or go out to eat. My children are no involved in any extra curricular activities, we do not have air conditioning. We drive one vehicle and I'm hoping that for my birthday that I get a second hand bike.
Any of the above mentioned reforms to the student loans would make our lives a little easier. Longer interest relief would mean I could pay down my loans and save money at the same time. Lower interest rates would make my monthly payments smaller.
I am not trying to get out of paying my loans, I only want to be able to do it more effectively without having to sacrifice a minimum level of comfort. |
| 665 | Ann-Marie | Glenwright | n/a |
| 666 | Anonymous | Anonymous | as a single mom with 2 kids I am finding it very hard to make the min payment. With interest as high as it is it is very discouraging to not see my amount owing drop with me making these payments monthly. |
| 667 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I am currently repaying my student loan. I pay 200/month and i have been paying for 6yrs now without missing one payment. At this rate, only 100/month goes on the principal and the rest is collected in interest. Put it this way, i have a 3yr old son who will be starting university when he's 18, the same year that my student loans will be paid off, how crazy is that. I only took 1yr university and 1yr college so i really don't have that great of an education and i cannot return to school because of student loan fees |
| 668 | Leigh | Casey | Student loans suck |
| 669 | Anonymous | Anonymous | this is great! |
| 670 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Accepting a SL is like signing a deal with the devil....it will haunt you for the rest of your life! You will never be free of it, payments will continue into old age with no dent in your princple. My advice is don't do it. It is easier and less stressful in Canada to live on welfare and debt free vs. being an educated poor with lifelong debt and continued harassment and stress. If your SL is in default, leave it, don't pay a dime, ignore the creditors as it will get you know where, just bide your time for 10 years. Don't take their calls, let the machine screen for you, change your number every 6 months if you have to just don't talk to them. Close all bank accounts that loans were deposited into, open up brand new ones. To prevent your income tax from being garnished, declare the maximum number of deductions possible so that at end of the year you owe them money, not the other way around, that way they are not getting your refund and you'll have a larger paycheck. Just deal with it for 10 years, file bankruptcy and be done with it, but no matter what DO NOT PAY THEM A DIME !!!! |
| 671 | Mary | MacKenzie | No one can afford the payments "THEY WANT" and live at the same time. |
| 672 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I went to college for two years as a single mother. Now, 8/9 years and 3 kids later, Im still juggling these loan payments and not making any headway. With this hanging over my head, I don't know if I will ever be able to buy a house someday for my kids to live in. This is contributing towards us living in a vicious cycle of debt. |
| 673 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I never get the same advice from anyone who rings me regarding student loans.. it is a horrendous state and must be fixed.
Please implement the above changes. It is LONG OVERDUE. |
| 674 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I should have stayed on welfare. At least we'd have enough food to eat, dental care, a medical plan, a place to live, and freedom from harassment. I traded in my welfare payments to go to school and make a better life for my daughter. She is the one who has suffered most as a result of debilitating student loan debt which I continue to carry 12 years after graduating. I was hoping to buy her much-needed braces...it never happened. Enroll her in gymnastic school. It never happened. Summer camp with friends? Never happened.
Send her to college? It will never happen.
If she wants education, she'll have to get a student loan - sentenced to a life time on the Never Never Payment Plan.
Intergenerational Student Loans are a legalized form of indentured slavery - ever ensuring government's ability to collect billions off the backs of hard-working (or hardly working) Canadians with student loan debt. |
| 675 | Kimberly | Turner | Something needs to be done ASAP. I pay $500 per month and it has not even put a dent on my loan due to high interest rates. At this rate, I won't be able to continue my education or even buy a decent home. |
| 676 | David | Garvey | After repeatedly submiting interest relief forms and after each one being submitted i was told my account has defaulted. FUCK YOU STUDENT LOANS. |
| 677 | Jeff | Clyde | pretty funny that my interest rate on my mortgage is 3 points lower than my student loans! |
| 678 | Asiya | Hussain | I'm paying the minimum payment of about $450/month for 10 years, and I haven't been able to get a permanent full-time job in my field since I graduated over 2 years ago. |
| 679 | Jeremy | Overton | After a traumatic experience at university, I dropped out in my third year. Now I have to pay off my loans as I work my way through a trade certification, and they've forwarded my case to NCO financial. Not nice people. Further, they only corresponded with me in french, a language in which I am only marginally fluent. |
| 680 | Anonymous | Anonymous | A healthy democratic society depends on it's citizens level of education. To make higher education a burden for life degenerates all aspects of community. This is unacceptable. It is also criminal to allow a government program to "forget" to take out direct payments then charge interest, and a penalty to the borrower, as well as take out more than the agreed upon amount out of that person's bank account. This has happened on more than one occasion. |
| 681 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I don't know how some people can take 5-6 courses and some people can only do 3-4 course or may be less. Well, here's my story. I intended to complete a Diploma of Computer Science at Capilano College, but they are not offering any 2nd year computer science courses anymore because they don't have enough budget and there isn't enough students registering. Therefore, my plan is completely screwed up. I completed most of the courses at Capilano and if I take courses at other institutions only 50% will get "transferred". The time is ticking. I'm currently trying to complete an Associate Degree (which I know is pretty useless). My mom is telling me to cease and get started in BCIT. For god sakes, I borrowed tons of money for education at Capilano yet I don't get any degree/diploma but a loan burden instead. I needed only 2 more courses to complete that stupid degree and 2 courses do not "qualified" for student loan. The bctranferguide.ca suck and there was something called "Split Enrolment" and Capilano made me pay a letter fee for processing these stupid documents. Man, I focking hate it. |
| 682 | George | Fedrigo | It took me 8 years to finally pay-off my loan. I never calculated the amount if interest I paid but it would have amounted to 1/3 the original loan. |
| 683 | Janice | Colbourne | I have been paying back my student loan for 3 years now and my principle just doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. It makes me sick to my stomach everytime I look at the amount I have paid on interest and the amount off my principle to be almost the same amounts!! |
| 684 | Murray | Clayton | I've been kept out of university two different years because I didn't have enough but they told me I pay too much. Osap has never heard of RENT, TEXTBOOKS, TRANSPORT, COST OF LIVING... |
| 685 | Li | Zacks | I graduated from University (BA) 5 years ago, and currently owe about $45000. My monthly interest payments are about $500 per month alone. I see no future in ever paying this loan back in current position. I want to go back to school in the next few years but now it seems impossible. I feel trapped and stressed about my future. I recently broke up with my girlfriend because she is worried about a future with me. What can I do? |
| 686 | Alexi | White | Read the research, upfront grants are the best form of government assistance! |
| 687 | Lynda | Weston | I am a single woman who went back to university at age 50 to try and upgrade my financial life. Do to circumstances way beyond my control things did not turn out that way. I was unemployed, evicted and eventually ended up in a women's shelter. I now have a wonderful job but only 20 hours a week. I am repaying my student loans but will soon turn 60. I've tried to explore the possibility of of putting that money toward my retirement but have been repeated turned down. So now I will end up one of those single seniors with a minimum level fixed income. What is wrong with this picture? |
| 688 | Larissa | Grzesiak | It seems ridiculous that the government claims to be helping more students, by giving out more student loans, when in reality, they are simply making more money off of the future leaders of this nation. |
| 689 | Jeffery | Lamgille | Over the course of getting my B.Sc degree I have aquired a massive $45,000 debt. Now I am planning on attending a masters program in september. Somehow, they expect me to start paying back my loans in middle summer even though Im going back to school in Sept. Does the government really want people from a lower class to get a higher education? I dont think so! If they did there would be at least some respect for those people who wish to continue and reach higher! |
| 690 | Andreas | Neidl | I have metastatic cancer and a perminent disablity and and they still whip me like a dog and demand repaymant! |
| 691 | Hana | Sakuragi | The interest rate is ridiculously high. I work and a huge chunk of my pay goes to student loans. I can't plan my future until my loans are paid off. |
| 692 | Ashley | Britten | I have a $13,000 student loan, and these requests would help me significantly. |
| 693 | Cathy | Green | I can only say I relate to alot of the stories on here, getting screwed over by interest relief and having to deal with collection agencies.
Now, my dilema is that the government messed up my taxes, gave to much to OSAP (Im in default so they automatically take a portion of my tax return) and now that they fixed their error ( I did my taxes correctly they messed it up) they want me to pay over $500 and wont reassess what they gave to OSAP. So they took a huge portion of my tax return (over 3/4), screwed it up, and decided I should fix it.
In any case, the way they handle student loans is ridiculous, how am I supposed to pay it when I make minimum wage?! |
| 694 | Daniel | Haas | I'm in the middle of my MA and they just sent me a letter today, saying that I've exceeded the maximum weeks of assistance and will have to start repaying my student loan while I am in school! |
| 695 | David | Webb | I feel it is the only debt a person can never get rid of. I feel they should be a betterment fund not a loan. Why are people in a so-called free Canada paying Banks and Collections agencies to opation a better life. Why is it in a so-called free Canada the only ones that allowed to get rich are oil companies, landloards and collection agencies. It is about time all political parties of all stirpes and 3 levels started to fre studends of there debt. So like the rich they canleave school debt free. Iam 65 and had no choice because of an accident to my arm I had to go back to school. I took out a student loan back in 1994 of 12000.00. Since I didnot get into office work but a sales job I was not and still am not able to pay. Thae government did makes gchanges to the loan system if the loan was taken out after 2000 but pior to that there is not aid, the student is on his or her own. Mr harper promised to do thing different then the Liberals but I don't see as yet any change for student. Lets drop these loans from banks and allow any one to get a good education. No more paying banks and colletion agencies. |
| 696 | Anonymous | Anonymous | The acceptance that the government has a role to play in helping Canadians pursue their academic/career/life aspirations is part of what makes Canada such a special place. The government must stop turning a blind eye to the persistent market failures occurring in our student loan system and start making sensible and effective changes to ensure a strong and viable system for the future. These points would constitute 8 steps in the right direction. |
| 697 | Brendan | Munden | The weight of student loans keeps my partner and I in nearly the same financial distress as the individuals we work with (the homeless). Secondary education has become the domain of the financially priveleged, which creates greater dispairity between the wealthy and poor in Canada. We are fast approaching the the income gap seen in the United States, of which no Canadian wishes to mimic. |
| 698 | Catherine | Barry | The prospect of having to pay the loan plus interest has forced me to not finish my Master's degree. You need to improve access to grants and scholarships for the older, single parent students who do not have the advantages of the younger students. In addition, we need some serious breaks when it comes to paying these loans back. The system right now is horribly disorganized and seriously punitive to those who fall on hardships. |
| 699 | Larysa | Roemer | Hi!
I fall into the "hardship" category. I attended the University of Calgary and convocated in 1996. In 1998 I was diagnosed with Bipolar Type II with borderline features. Unable to work, my student loans (approx. $24,000) went into collections. What a wonderful experience that was - dealing with all of those wonderful collection agents who check any and all moral fiber at the door on their way into work!
After linking with Credit Counselling Services of Alberta when I stabilized somewhat, I paid back over $10,000.
My situation now,however, is very different. Some people with my diagnosis can and do deteriorate with age. From 2004-2006 I tried to maintain employment - ANY EMPLOYMENT - but to no avail. I have been on CPP Disability now as of June, 2006 and have a whopping monthly income of $691/month.
After advocating on behalf of myself for 1.5 years with CIBC to have my loan forgiven...they finally caved. I have a file folder with over 50 names and various departments that I dealt with throught that god-awful process......I still can't decide if it is strategically set up that way so that we will just give up - or that they are really just that incompetent!
My situation now is that I still have just over $6,000 outstanding sitting on a computer somewhere in Ottawa...and just under $2,000 with a collection agency called NCO in Toronto. Both have acknowleged that they have removed these debts from active recovery....yet I am still called a number of times per week(I don't answer and actually get a kick out of possibly pissing them off!!).
Please change policy with regard to people living with mental illness who are unable to work - AT ALL - let alone make installment payments of any kind. With proof from qualified medical personnel regarding diagnosis and prognosis there should be a way to resolve matters like these. We are not debtors who are running but rather debtors who are fundamentally unable to honour these debts.
YOU CAN LIST MY NAME WITH PRIDE. |
| 700 | Cory | Rockel | The Canadian Student loan system needs revision! While in school the Canadian and Alberta student loans program only awarded me half of the funds I required forcing me to take out a personal line of credit. Now after graduation and starting full time work, half of my paycheque goes to my education debt. Because of my student loan payments, I cannot get a mortgage, purchase a new car, and I often struggle to make my rent and utility payments. Even with a Masters Degree and a well paying full time job, I am one paycheque from living on the streets. I truly regret seeking out secondary education. |
