| # | First Name | Last Name | Please provide a comment or personal story. |
|---|
| 1301 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Oh, the nightmare that I am continuing to have with Student loan would end up being 5 pages long in point form |
| 1302 | Anonymous | Anonymous | My monthly statements from HRSDC stopped,I was told it was written off in 2004 but about 6 months ago the harassment by a collection agency started, only to find it has been accumulating interest and is so far out of reach for me now. The collection agency has also informed my co-workers I defaulted on my student loan jeopardizing my employment and reputation. |
| 1303 | Dmitry | Volokhov | As a citizen and resident of a diverse, multicultural Canada, I was completely taken off guard when the NSLSC informed me that I was inneligble for Interest Relief while living and working temporarily abroad.
Their own website states that you must be a "resident" of Canada. No problem. Even while in Korea, Revenue Canada agrees that I remain a resident of Canada. The NSLSC insists that "resident" = "living in", but they wouldn't share with me the document where it states this, saying that the document is "internal".
It seems to me that a citizenry of multilingual university grads who return to Canada after living all over the globe could only strengthen Canada in the long term. If Revenue Canada treats me as a resident of Canada while I'm experiencing South East Asia, then why doesn't the NSLSC? Why can't the NSLSC at least point me to the document which defines the criteria and legislation relating to Interest Relief? |
| 1304 | Scott | MacDOnald | money |
| 1305 | Jerome | Kies | Watch out for computer training .com there going in the same direction as sally mae! |
| 1306 | Anonymous | Anonymous | my student loan has been in arrears since 2002($11000)
I am a single mother of 2, I am only 23 years old. right now I am on mat leave and will be returning to work in a few months. student loans has been harrassing me like crazy, I have been trying to make payments but some months it seems damn near impossible. looking after 2 children and only making 11.00/hr, having to pay all the bills and rent myself and them expecting me to pay them minimal 446.00/mth with a monthly interest amount at 65.00. how in the world am I supposed to do that?
Student loans needs to offer more assistance to us students who yes have borrowed the money to do something with our lives but maybe take into consideration that not everything works out as great as you thought it would. give us a chance, dont be so cruel, we are still human beings. offer some assistance to those of us who are struggling which I think mainly is 90% of the population.
with what I can pay a month, I dont even come close to covering the interest and personally I would rather pay on my loan rather than giving the government more of my money than they already take otherwise! |
| 1307 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I graduated from York University in 2001. I hold BSc degree in Computer Science. Since I finished school, I was looking for a job in my field or close, I couldn't get an opportunity not even for a job interview. The year I graduated in was a major recession year in IT industry which resulted in laying off a large amount of experienced people in that major. So, in that year I as a new graduate was competing with those veterans for any position in the computer and IT field. I didn't give up, but I started accepting any opportunity I ran into just till I found my appropriate job. I took my chances to work as an independent contractor with Primerica Financial Services. This was a self-employed position which I wasn't very much aware of the nature of it. I can't complain about the company principals as I learned a lot in life and in the financial sector, but the timing to join such a company was wrong which naturally resulted in not progressing financially even though I earned 2 major financial licenses; Ontario Life Insurance and Mutual Funds. I also tried exploring small business with my husband, this business took all my energy and time but gone nowhere. I found myself going in an endless dark tunnel, I don't know if I would see a light at the end of it. I worked in a call centre in a hope of walking my way up and maybe I say maybe, I'd get the right employment opportunity within the company. I started my first few steps, I got promoted into a supervisor ... then 4 months later, the company went into a major downsizing and started laying off. Of course I had to be one of those since I was new in my "new" position. Now, I'm studying again, to update my computer and IT knowledge to make up for the gap I unintentionally created by not joining the IT industry over the passed 7-8 years. Of course I wouldn't have been able to do it if I wasn't on EI. If anyone goes through this history, I'd really appreciate them informing me what I was supposed to do to be able to pay off my OSAP loan. I lost my good credit because of that, I also lost ability to apply for interest relief. I honestly find myself asking questions with no answers. I don't think anyone can help. Nevertheless, I thought I wanted to give this website a chance to see it helps getting some answers. I do not wish to avoid the payments but I need to know what I can do to get this burden out and over with. I can't live the rest of my life just trying to find an escape for one dilemma to find myself in another. I really really need help. I have two kids, who I can't afford to give them the opportunity to live like other kids, they can't join hobby programs because I can't afford them, they don't have friends or relatives to spend some time with and learn something new, they even don't have me to teach them because I'm always busy with either jobs in the wrong hours (usually 4-12) if I have a job, and when I don't, I can't do anything for them because I'm looking for a job. This is not fair not for me, not for them. I seriously need help. |
| 1308 | Matthew | Kent | I'm 26, my wife is 26, between the two of us, we pay nearly $600 towards our OSAP, that is the MINIMUM payment, mainly because any more would make it impossible for us to make ends meet. I understand that we used this money and need to pay it back, but had tuition not been so rediculous, we would not have racked up such debt. and when you consider the payments we're making on our student lines of credit that we needed to cover the remainder of post secondary expenses, we're paying close to $800 a month. It's a bit out of hand!
All we want is a bit of help, or access to grants because as it stands, we're looking at 13 years to pay the total off. we have a child on the way, and to be able to afford to make our payments, we're both going to have to work alternating shifts (me nights and weekends, and her days during the week). HER paycheque covers all of our student incurred debt. that means that mine is left to cover a mortgage, car payment, food and utilities, as well as any unexpected expences (car/home repairs, etc..)
please consider reforming tution costs and the practices surrounding our student loans. |
| 1309 | Sara | Janssen Kent | After 4 years of university and a year of college my student loan debt is very high. I was forced to take my payments over the longest period (which I believe is 14 years) and yet I have no idea of the progress made with my payments. When I moved in with my husband he had OSAP loans as well. We are now paying over $600 a month on OSAP and seeing little progress in our debt. |
| 1310 | Christine | Martineau | I couldn't agree more |
| 1311 | Colin | Janssen | As someone who has had difficulty paying my loans back over the last five years I would love to see changes made to the way student loans are collected. Until recently I was one of those people with extenuating circumstances. My first child was extremely ill right from birth and very little compassion was shown by the student loans programs as far as finding acceptable payment schedules during this difficult time. |
| 1312 | Ann | Paquette | I am currently making ok money, but it wasn't always the case. I had trouble for the first three years making payements and I found, and still find, that despite the money that is taken out of my account each month, I don't see much of a difference in the balance. I also don't know what I owe, I find out once a year when the taxes are being done, that's it. While it isn't difficult to make payements at the moment, it is difficult to get anywhere with all that interest that is being charged. I am a little tired of donating my money to the government. |
| 1313 | Adam | Kent | the government shouldn't be making money from people trying get an education. |
| 1314 | Alana | Bender | Osap payments are keeping me poor! |
| 1315 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I really hate how you never know what your actually paying, they should send out statements showing what is owed. I also hate how I am paying more and the government is reaping the benefits to pay salaries, yet nothing that matters most is being taken care of... I think they are taking advantage of students because they know they can't afford post secondary education. |
| 1316 | Collwyn | Craig | I borrowed in BC from 2000-2005. The first three years the NDP freeze was in effect. After the Liberals took power, tuition doubled.
Currently, I pay about 160$ a month in interest. It is half of my minimum payment.
I've moved to Korea to teach English because I can't afford to live in Canada and raise the payment on my loan.
Everyone I know here from other English-speaking countries is making money because their goverments don't have ridiculous interest rates on education loans. All the Canadians are sending half their paycheque home. |
| 1317 | Shari | Levine | Back in '97 was a single parent going back to school in Ontario - initially gov't of Bob Rae was helping single parents with their education, then Mike Harris came to power and changed everything. I was forced to live on student loans- graduated with a debt of 15000. Diploma in Child and youth work for 3 year program. Been ten years and still paying. Being harrassed by NCO Financial services even though I am paying. It is stressful and horrible. If I had stayed on welfare and not gone back to school it would have cost the government more. I have been contributing to society for over ten years now and enough is enough! My son is now 16 years old and I will still be paying my student loan when my son starts University!! I have more than paid my share if you ask me and I think the government should be able to look at individual cases and determine a scale based on people's incomes. I truly believe that I have more than paid my fair share not to mention the fact that I have no real way of verifying if the amount that they maintain that I still owe is even accurate. The government gets away with things that no company would ever be able to. They are less accountable than anyone. I, for one, think it's disgusting. |
| 1318 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I've been living with Canada Student Loan repayments for the past 10 years and just dealing with paying down the interest has, indeed, been finanially crippling and morally frustrating. |
| 1319 | Nemanja | Trapara | a |
| 1320 | Ron | Reece | My schoooing did ot provide me with an industry standard certificate. 2 years later the school closed shop, and I have no records or credits of mt 18 months of labour.
I couldn't even get a job in the field I trained for.
Now, the colloection agency that hold my accouunt, will not even talk. The just yell and make threats.
My loan is now almost 40% greater than the initial principal. My government is my loan shark. |
| 1321 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Hi there,
I have always paid my bills, always. In 2002 I got really sick of people looking down on single mothers', like myself, (I have 3 children) and I wanted to get a better education, better job and take my kids out of Ontario Housing. I completed my 3-year advanced Diploma course, but had no experience and did not get employed in my field. Some of my classmates found jobs, but they were either related to the person or knew the person really well who got them a job. I don't know any high profile people in my area, and the only way any of my neighbors are on TV, is because of crime, or City Pulse comes to take a few shots of our needy kids eating breakfast at the Breakfast Club, I hope the sponsor feels really good about that, but personally, I didn't see any of their kids getting their faces plastered on TV while they ate, how rude. Unfortunately, I majored in Financial Services, and no Financial Institution wants to hire a person with a bad credit history (student loans). The OSAP office knew my financial situation, and yet neglected to tell me you cannot get a Millenium Scholarship if you start school in May because it is not considered. Apparently the year starts in September and you need to attend at least 2 semesters (I think they call themselves Counsellors LOL). So, I didn't get a big job or move. Honesty is really important in a relationship, so I told my boyfriend, before we became serious, about my debt and he ran as far away from me as he could. Senseless, to think about one day having a dream wedding when you are in debt. My interest relief is up in April, and they want me to make payments of $533.61 per month, but wait, I was told if I make these payments for 24 months(that makes it 5 years since my course ended), without default, I will be eligible for a loan reduction of $10,000. Don't let that figure fool you, that is just the interest I would've already paid. I don't have that kind of money coming in, if I did, I would definitely pay it. I think they should give a reduction after the interest relief period is over, not wait 5 years since the person completed their studies, to those elgible ofcourse. "CSLF" is great and I'm glad they are hearing the real people, and speaking on my behalf. I wish our Government would listen, because people in my area, mostly female, are becoming more and more tolerant of their drug dealer boyfriends and sons because they need help with their bills, and one of my neighbors tolerated physical abuse because her man helped her a little bit financially (He stabbed her to death a year ago, she had her picture put on the TV News, so did he). I pray to God I can pay my debt, even if I have to disguise myself and sit on Yonge Street with a cup in hand. I have children, and despise drugs. Thank-you to our Government for curing childhood poverty in our city, and putting us on TV everytime we have to visit a Food Bank (We must be famous!!). |
| 1322 | Anonymous | Anonymous | The Coalition for Student Loan Fairness is a broad-based group of student loan borrowers and their allies from across Canada who are working to implement an Eight-Point Plan to reform our unresponsive and antiquated student loan system. I am in support of this!!! |
| 1323 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I have carefully read each one of the above points and am signing this petition as someone who has experienced just about every one of the unjust practices listed.
I signed ONE document to get a loan and four agencies began harrassing me immediately upon graduation.
I've had my entire bank account "accidently" emptied by the repayment staff of Canada Student Loans (while I was on interest relief) and despite pleading with office personnel, explaining that I would be evicted, was told the money would not be returned.
While earning $19,000 a year in my first position out of school, I paid just a little over minimum payments and by the end of one year, my debt had INCREASED.
I am told this is due to interest. But how am I to know for sure? I can't get a statement of my file's activities.
I feel like I've been buried under some sort of evil entity, and will be for the REST OF MY LIFE! I have been paying as much as I can possibly afford and still my debt load increases!
I have always been appalled that my meager earnings are subsidizing this system while Canada Student Loans and BC Student Loans waste millions on their shambles of a bureaucracy.
And my infuriating experiences with the student loans system is nothing compared to some of my friends' stories.
It is unbelievable that there is nothing to provide checks and balances for those treated so unjustly.
I am convinced that if a fair and impartial Ombudsperson were to hear any one of the stories I've heard, he or she would have no choice but to decide against the loans program. The system must be overhauled. |
| 1324 | John | Belvedere | it's been over 2 decades and OSAP is trying to collect on payments that were already made -- going as so far as to witholding my GST payments.... what a load of bloodsuckers. |
| 1325 | craig | etmanski | It pains me to think that the government is charging higher interest on my student loan than my bank does....outrageous.
-cetmanski |
| 1326 | Brianna | Humphrey | Osap is slowing driving me insane and making me very very poor |
| 1327 | Kelsey | Strickland | Education is encouraged and necessary if you want to be succesful and get a decent job. However it's almost impossible to graduate with a 30,000+ loan and be able to survive on an entry-level position salary while making enough of a payment to not only being paying off the interest. In order to get a better job, you need more education, which means more debt. It is very disheartening, and constantly weighing on everything I do. While many of my friends are off traveling and being young I am tied down because of my debt and will be for the next 5+ years. |
| 1328 | Eric | Gauvin | Hi,
I'm proud to see that is an organism that works for this cause. I have over 60 000$ loans for 6 years of University. I got my degree in social work but I will never be able pay my student loans before a long time. It's over 750 per month. I will probably qualify for the interest exemption for the rest of my life. It's totally insane. This payment is over 5$ of every hour of work that will go on this Student loans for the next 10 years.
Anyways if you need any helps for something. Feel free to contact me on my e-mail. I'm living in NB and I'm an ex-vice-president of the FÉÉCUM (Fédération des étudiant et étudiantes du centre universitaire de Moncton) so i'm close from this cause.
I hope to have contact with your organization in the future.
Have a nice day.
(I'm French so please don't take my mistake in consideration) |
| 1329 | George | Kerr | The future of this country depends on the sharing and dissemination of knowledge.
It is of paramount importance for this country to make education affordable to all Canadians.
The Universities spend far more money than they need...their is little fiscal responsibility and accountability. |
| 1330 | marcella | granger | hi i hope this helps The reason I got a student loan and went back to school was it was ovious that my husband at the time was not going to be responsible in keeping a job. I would have to get educated and help support our family but we could not live on my income and pay bills. There was no excuse to not pay this loan with two incomes. long story short we are no longer together and I am now paying this loan and all other debt that i accuired in marriage |
| 1331 | Curtis J | Haas | I have been looking for a body like this for years.Thank you for your story about collections from the government regarding dead students. I would have never found your site.
My dilema is I was put through University by the Vocational Labor Skills & Training Ministry in Chilliwack BC from 1995-1999. According to their own policies I was not suppose to take out Student Loans,but rather, they were suppose to pay for my living expenses and so on as they did for countless others in their program. Myself and one other student in the Social Services Program were made to take student loans and we were both declared DISABLED byt the BC Government and our Doctors.
Well the $11,900.00 in student loans has grown to well over $40,000.00 in debt which i am still unable to pay as I am disabled again and on permenant Provincial Disability here in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It has destroyed my credit rating so badly (the Student Loans)that not even a loan shark would loan me money to fix my old car or help me purchase another used delapitaed car. So if you want to use this story your most welcome. I am awaiting one more year to declare banckruptcy on those deliquent student loans which I do believe the BC Provincial Government should have to pay.I was told by the collection wing of the Student Loans in Sask 2 yrs ago that I could apply for forgivenss of those loans if and its a big if, I can prove I was disabled and am now disabled back then. My problem is this>>all those documents are in BC with the Ministry of Education Archives and they told friends of mine in BC who tried to get them for me that I had to come there myself and get them.When I was there in BC last July they were closed for the summer monthslol. So maybe you can help me out I dont know. You can email me or contact me by phone at 1-204-275-6327>>ask for Curtis or leave a message with one of the 3 mailboxes>>my landlords.
Yours Sincerely,
Curtis J Haas |
| 1332 | Tracy | VanWieren | The system must be reformed! |
| 1333 | Chris | Lowe | Loans designed to give the lower classes a leg up, are only serving to keep the status quo. I have a job and am making good money, but because of the damage to my credit from late student loan payments it may be years before I can buy a house or even think about having kids. For a person who struggles with rent and utility bills, six months after graduation is not enough time to start adding on hundreds of dollars more a month in payments. This whole thing is ridiculous, I have no more money now at the end of the day than I did when I started my education 10 years ago. |
| 1334 | Barbara | Taylor | I was sued by the Queen for a federal loan I received in 1987. The Crown ruled in favour of the government for $5000 and change. I paid it over the next year. 8years later now the government has sent my student loan to collections stating that I owed interest on the court ordered payment. |
| 1335 | Catherine | Elsliger | it's not fair.....for those who are trying there best to pay off...and can't....give them more time |
| 1336 | Ken | Zhang | I think the interest is too high. I know there are some people are not paying back. but government should not let us to pay the money that they have lost from the students they are not paying. |
| 1337 | Marg | Gale | Before my daughter graduated, the Student loand lenders, already added thousands of dollars interest to her loan, and gave her a bad credit rating to the Credit Bureaus of Canada.
I fought this issue with the Banks and Politicians and showed the proof that she was attending school at the time they defaulted her loan. They have my daughter trapped in a corner. She got no credit, therefore unable to buy a car, get a loan, buy a house etc.. |
| 1338 | Anonymous | Anonymous | It's obvious that there needs to be a change. I have about $26,000 in student loans, and I've had to apply for "debt relief" but each time, the interests increased. What is the government doing with all the extra money they are collecting? |
| 1339 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I'm in debt up to my eyeballs and not to say that it's not my doing, but the government makes it so much harder. They don't inform you about services, programs and options before and after applying for and accepting a student loan(which should be MANDATORY). There should also be some kind of counselling session when you get OSAP for the first time. I am 25 years old (26 next week) and that does not seem like that far-fetched of an idea that no one else (in the government) has thought of it before. I have depression and that makes everything that much harder to deal with. I started university in 2001 and left due to depression in 2003. I can't go back to school - anywhere - because of my loan. So I have a half completed degree and no possible way to finish it or even start something else. I've often thought, Hey, if I died, my parents/live-in significant other could pay off my loan(s)... otherwise, I don't know what else to do to get the money. In addition, when bills or whatever else I have may go into collections, I make sure I don't pay through the collection agency or even send the money to them. In all possible cases, I pay the lender or service provider directly and bypass the agency. Why should they get paid for my hard work? More than half of the collectors are RUDE, to put it nicely. It makes me wonder how good their personal financial situations are... The government wants to talk about bottom lines, well here's mine: The government doesn't care about its people, it really doesn't. It would take a tragedy or a miracle or a revolution to change the student loan system. At the moment I make 31,982 as a f****** mailroom clerk and that has me scraping by, not even a blinking chance to look towards school. |
| 1340 | Anonymous | Anonymous | I went to university for 4 years to become a nurse, I presently work in Alberta, where rent is very expensive and cost of living high. I am being charged 6.40$ every day or every month, they even charge me interest on my interest for a loan totalling almost 30,000. I don't understand how the government, can condone this when we need educated proffessionals, especially in the health care field. working in another country is looking more and more appealing. Sadly, unless you have a well off family that can pay your way through school, your thrown into perpetual poverty by the federal government and their corporate friend EDULINX. I also don't have high hopes for Solberg making any difference...ALberta forgave my provincial loans, whats stopping the federal government from giving students and graduated students and deceased students a break??? |
| 1341 | Anonymous | Anonymous | The government is making it nearly impossible to attend post secondary education. As everyone knows, post secondary education is very costly, adding the burden of paying back student loans at significantly high interest rates is absolutely disgusting. The government should be ashamed of themselves! They are doing a great job of crippling their future. |
| 1342 | Andrea | Havercroft | Having two student loans Federal and Ontario for the past 18 years and supporting three children I am drownining in debt. Considering my mother has paid for my transportation and all appliances and furniture, I still cannot make ends meet. The interest has been the problem. Paying my student loan monthly leaves me very little for food and utilities. I still owe over $20,000.00 and will be fourty in April. |
| 1343 | Linda | Repp | I am signing although I was lucky enough to have my family pay for my higher education. The reason I am angry at the current state of student loans in Canada is that I believe that education should be free to those who display the natural ability or determination to succeed in university or college. Why can't we follow the far superior model used in many European countries? I have cousins in Holland and Germany who have university degrees that didn't cost their families a penny! It is simply unfair. What is more, I have good friends who are labelled as bad credit risks simply because they dared dream of achieving something and working hard at university! What kind of a message are we sending youth? Or anyone else insterested in bettering themselves? We harp about the importance of education in this country, and yet, we do nothing to help motivated people to succeed. No one is asking for a handout, but a fair break and a helping hand would be nice! And call off the attack dogs masquerading as collection agencies. We can do better than this! I am a high school teacher, and I wish I could give my students more hope, but I know that even some exceptional students simply will not be able to continue studying after grade 12. No money, no future. And we're supposed to be a leading nation in this world! Sad. |
| 1344 | Greg | Bachmanek | History has shown that those nations who invest in human capital (high education and skills training) acheive higher standards of living for a majority of their population. |
| 1345 | Anonymous | Anonymous | It needs to be fair. Student loans are a gamble! |
| 1346 | Amanda | Smee | An office would be good considering I have had nothing but problems. I become very stressed when it is time for me to re-apply for student loans each year as I know I will have some sort of issue with payment to me or the school, errors made by student loans, and so on....ANNOYED! |
| 1347 | patricia | geddes | I am in debt for 20 000 dollars+ and my experiences with loan agencies have been awful. Bureaucracies amount to reneged assurances of paperwork filed, websites that conflict with what employees say, untimely correspondence, no response at all to some communications I put forward, lost documents, to say it all briefly. I am so disappointed with the system and I am only in my 2nd year of university. |
| 1348 | Anonymous | Anonymous | Consumer vs Education Debt
Fairly unequal treatment. There is no question it's a system poorly designed to penalize people for investing in the betterment of society at large as opposed to themselves alone. Something is very wrong here.
Very wrong. |
| 1349 | Brian | Short | Why can't the goverment get it through their thick skulls that a moe educated society will pay higher taxes in the long run. Therefore the education should be free or interest free. This bullshit is forcing people to stay out of higher education or look at serious offers outside of loans that in the long run may not be so good. |
| 1350 | Anonymous | Anonymous | It's about time that the government starts being fair to students and stop ripping us off, some of us might just end up working for you some day |
