You didnt live at home while going to SFU?

tuition on a degree was about $30k (for me anyway)

i guess for the tuition freeze to be lifted in 2003 when the provicinal gov't was changed up was something that the financial advisors were not expecting. It's not exactly the magic pill but really, what options do people have?
the vulnerable (single mom's..disabilities etc) probably don't have the best credit history to take out a SLoC.

i'd still take gov't loans over SLoC from the bank...interest-free while in school and is tax-deductible during repayment phase. The only drawback of gov't loans is that you can easily max out of loans and you have to deal with repayment at both the national and provincial level (seems like they don't communicate well with each other).

I don't agree with you depending on the degree. I was able to keep my grades much higher without a job and taking loans. My high grades got me a fantastic salary out of school which allowed me to pay back $25K of loans.

I took systems engineering, meanwhile my brother did the same with civil engineering and is still paying back his loans since the salaries are not nearly as high - so this approach will not work for every degree.

Loans and tuition are not directly related, although I don't want my taxes subsidizing loans to buy toys.

Canadian tuition is cheap. The amount you pay may seem expensive, yet is heavily subsidized. I would prefer to see tuition costs rise further, my taxes should not be subsidizing someone getting a useless degree for cheap. If tuition cost most, maybe people would be more interested in taking degrees that are more worthwhile than art history :whistle:

No. When I was at SFU I did not have the option of living with my parents or of getting more than minimal financial assistance from them.

But, I didn't mean to make this about /me/ personally. I am paying my loans. And will be, for a long, long, long time. But I am paying them.

What I meant with my commentary was to show an example of why the Student Loans department are in the situation they are. Because they give more credit than they should to people who really have no option but to take it and who are going to be heavily financially burdened by them later (and therefore struggle with payments or more likely to default). I don't know how they can be surprised when this is the end result.

Yes. What I would like them to do though is, like the credit card companies, every time you get your loan renewed, have it clearly state both what your totals are and what that is going to result in your end payment being when you get out. Also some sort of financial planning education should be a requirement to entering the Student Loan program.

Further more I think the national and provincial loans should be pooled into 1 payment (this would be much more managable) and interest rates should be more preferential (They are pretty high and don't go down, ever). And I think they should subsidize those who's only other alternative is really staying home on welfare (or allow them to collect welfare while at school so they don't have to take out loans large enough to cover their living expenses).

Yes and no.

It really depends on what industry you're in.

I'm saving to go back, fuck a student loan.

Taking student loan is really just like spending too much on your credit card and accumulating significant amount of interest. Just as the banks prefer individual who pays ridiculous interest rates on their credit card, student loan issuers prefer those who graduate and make timely payments with interests they charge.

I took student loan anyway even though I knew my parents were there to back me up. The reason is because of those grants you get. The grants I received exceeded 5k and those were pretty much like free $, and am sure part of it comes from people paying the interest on student loan. Much like when you have 1% cash back credit card, these $ come from those who pay interests. The difference is that people paying back student loan with interest rates are working hard to do the right thing and those who pay interests on their credit card spending are plain dumbasses.

Back when I was in University, most of the larger corporations (Accounting , Banks, Oil, Resource, Mining, Engineering, Computer firms etc) had their recruiting process in October-December). I wouldn't graduate until after exams, which is May.

On my Resume I would indicate something like this:

UBC, SFU Degree etc . .. . . . . . . . Expected Graduation: May 2005


These larger companies generally know that these students will not be graduating until this time, and therefore want to lock up the "TOP TALENT" first before other companies get in.

I remember my job offer was in December, yet I didn't start until June, a month after finals were over.

For smaller companies I notice they don't accept applications until a month or so before the start date.

I heard that some Asian people with PR status, abuse this by maxing out the loans and jetting off to their native countries after getting a degree. Apparently they dont need to pay if they leave the country for 10years or something.

Student loans are a joke. I remember I was 18, and being led through the process like a herd to the slaughter. Had no idea what I was signing, and magically money appeared in my account. I finally paid one off, and close to the other one. I first went to school in 1998.

Had shitloads of fun through, and lived in a kickass apartment in the Southend of Halifax.

I'd like to have shitloads of fun with my $150 a month now though.

My friend considered this when she moved to Australia, I am glad she did not go through with it. She could declare Canadian bankruptcy and ride out the majority of the bad years in Australia as her ruined Canadian credit would not follow her.

I really need student loans, but I keep getting rejected because they claim I make too much.. I'm not working as much as I use to, so I'm hoping my grades are good so I can get scholarship.

All I'm looking for is just my tuition to be covered. Fuck, living alone, having a car, having to feed yourself, money for entertainment is fucking expensive! Then we get taxed up the ass.

^ Meh. You're still doing better than 4,000,000,000 on the planet :D. You're doing ok.

Most definitely agree, as eloquently said above:
STUDENT LOANS>>>>>>>>LINE OF CREDIT
1. Interest free while in school
2. Interest after school is tax deductable
3. Don't have to pay for 6 months post-last day of class (although interest accumulates)
I have no sympathy for those who go to school for something to do and get loans then quit 1/2 way through to find themselves 15k in debt working at Starbucks. Get a game plan early or just work at starbucks.

My student loan was ~28000, paid off in 14 months. I just moved back home and used my money to pay off the loan instead of rent to my parents. I don't care that I was 25 and moved home, it allowed me to save an astronomical amount of money in a short period of time and I still traveled tons and went out often. Just cut the frivolous spending (ie. starbucks, fast food, massive cell phone bills).

For those in high school or 1st year, take a good look at finances and apply for every aid you can: 5-10 hours of your time may make you a thousand dollars in grants.

interesting discussion I have to say.

Just want to get this straight. say someone borrows 28k and gets a degree and then a good job. The top priority after graduation would to pay off the loan before worrying about other stuff correct? ie. similar to what Nocardia did, make sacrifices, pay it all off in about a year.
THEN start worrying about saving up for a mortgage or whatever right?

that seems to be make the most sense to me instead of saving up for a mortgage while making 300/month payments or w/e. Dunno if there could be advantages to just sticking with monthly payments (for the purpose of tax deductions and whatnot).

^ i'm not at that age yet but i'd just stick to the monthly payments and save for down payment at the same time.

I don't know what the expert financial people would say about it but to be honest, paying the minimum payments means that I would be paying off my student debt for years (now that I think about it, I actually still had ~7G from savings and gifts from grandparents and tax refunds come the end of university so like 6G went right away)

The stress of knowing that I have debt for years to come is not worth it (nor is complaining on RS about how you feel screwed about it), yes I could have bought a new car or saved for a mortgage. But right now I know I am stress-free because I am not tied down with debt and all my money now goes towards furnishing the new place :)

In the long run a student loan is the best investment I can think of - if used properly.

I hope you don't that I'm in any way targeting you because it just feels like your viewpoints are good candidates for discussion or even give me pointers in a few months when I'm out of school.

What I meant ridiculous was that I felt it should have been a little bit more flexible. I totally understand the need to start looking for a job months before you are done school, but not everyone is as fortunate to find something. Perhaps let it start counting once a full time job is started. Granted its more paper work for both the government and the student.

Its not "as if they learned nothing about the real world", its probably correct for at least half the people about to grad right now to know nothing of the real world.

Exactly, you lucked out. And while there are still good opportunities out there right now, its just not as great after 08/09 depression.

Agreed with the first part as it depends on the degree you are currently doing. Though disagree about the 2nd part with loans as getting through a 4 year university career will now cost you much more than $25k. I'd say after a 4 year degree just based on just student loans, you are looking at owing around $40k after you grad. With the student loan limit capped at $50k(it was that much last time I checked), its awfully close. If it gets dragged out a little longer than expected when you can't get the classes that you want, it will get a little nerve-wracking.

Good for her, I despise those who do not take responsibility for themselves.

Just wondering, when did you graduate?

I guess I'm lucky.

I did 4 co-op terms (2 x 8 months) in school and worked as a teaching assistant for a few semesters. I was pretty much able to pay off my entire debt by graduation.

It's not hard to save up to pay it off if you stop spending money on useless shit. I made about 35k between my two co-ops and spent maybe only 4-5k on myself. Each TA gig got me about 2k per semester, just enough to cover tuition for the semester.

True that, I had 2k in the bank account and they expected me to use my incredible "savings" on tuition.

Agreed on every part, on top of that the longer you take to pay your loans, the more interest you accumulate, the more you end up actually paying.

you are lucky..that's some nice cash flow from co-op and tuition at 2k a sem is pretty cheap.
Jus curious, did you take 6 years in total then?

Yup, pretty much took an extra year to grad but I think the co-op experience was more than worth it. My course load varied though. Sometimes 3 courses per semester... which is why 2k per semester almost covered it all (I'd have to add maybe a few hundred dollars).

This was at SFU btw, which I personally think has a great co-op program.

I had the samething happen to me in 2000 when I went back to school. I had to go take out a line of credit at my bank and make payments well working 30 hours a week and going to school fulltime.

I think it's kind of BS you get punished for working and going to school. Meanwhile the other people I went to school with were getting Grants they didn't have to pay back and of course were rewarded with interest free loans because they lived at home and just went to school.