Canada Student Loan Delinquencies - needs $149M
 

Basically people aren't repaying their educational debts...at the same time more people need loans.

For the small percentage of people here suggesting to take out student loans for your car mods..look at how many students/taxpayer you are potentially screwing over.

For the rest of the story click here: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201...-loans-110208/

GG, im paying my student loan. have been for the past 3 years. Used it for school and only school. People who abuse the system like that are douches.

Ditto. It's terrible when people take advantage of it. I had leftover money from my loans for school, and just paid it back.

Well what this article doesn't say is a lot too.

In the province of BC up until I think 2003 we subsidized high need persons while they were going to school, mostly single parents and persons with disabilities (aka, people who couldn't work and attend school at the same time, or wouldn't be able to work with out training) which was preferable to having them on welfare as it both cost less and meant getting them onto an educational track that would result in them earning higher incomes and pour money back into public funds.

On this path you would be getting about 1/2 of your loan as a grant so your debt levels were rising only slowly (to the tune of a couple thousand a semester).

Abruptly in 2003 this stopped meaning the people who were half way through their degrees were suddenly being given (you don't get to say 'no I only want X # dollars, they assess you and tell you what you're getting) the whole amount as a loan.

I know I was one of these people. In 2003-04, the last year of my degree I gathered more debt than the whole three years prior combined. Totally 4 times more than had origionally been anticipated when I'd first set out on my educational path and discussed all this with the student loan people.

This story, is not uncommon at all. I know several people in this situation. So I won't get out of student debt now for... 13 years. And am paying loans to both the province of BC and the Federal Loan (cause they give you two you can't take one or the other) Wee! That claiming bankruptcy after 7 option? Well that's really really tempting when you're trying to scrounge up hundreds of extra dollars a month and in all honesty I don't blame anyone who takes it.

In short, I don't recommend student loans to anyone any more. When I begun my education I was flat out lied to and deceived about how the system would work, the budget I would expect to be dealing with after I was done and so on. It's no better than those folks who come ply 19 year old students with high limit credit cards and then bitch when they default on them.

If you got the whole amount why not spend what you need and give back the rest? (maybe i'm interpreting what you said wrong). Did you guys not get a few months grace period after you finished your schooling? I got 2 grants which took about 1/4 off my student loan and spent what I needed on school and gave back the rest. I'll be done my payments in 2014 and I started paying in 2009.

yeah i'm sure you can pay back whatever you don't use so your monthly payments after graduation would be decreased, no?

and to bloodmack the loan reduction program that you mentioned was abolished last year due to the recession:speechless:

My feelings were that student loans were always the deal w/ the devil. How can they expect that you pay them back right away after graduation? Quite a few of my friends are feeling the effects of paying back these loans + interest.

I took a different strategy, working jobs at the summer to save up for tuition for the following year. It was a drag, but hey at least no loans to pay off.

@TwitchyZero, I was talking about the millennium program, you talking about the same one?

I really don't understand how people can let their loans get out of hand.. If you cant handle the responsibility you shouldn't get a loan. I understand that things dont always go the way you want when you get out of college/uni (didn't for me) but I am still able to pay my loans back with no financial problems. Interest isn't even high, unless you choose to take a variable interest which is probably much higher if your paying a loan you got from pre-recession. I worked in the summers and didn't use a single dime of what I made on school, the only thing i regret :P.

I have some classmates that take student loans even though they already have money saved for their entire education. They said something about not having interest when paying back loans immediately after graduation. So essentially, they're investing with their tuition money and paying back the loans and pocketing the extra money.

You get a grace period of no interest as well as you don't have to pay your loan back. I don't understand how they can pocket extra money when you have to pay your entire student loan back..

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear enough but they already have their tuition saved up and they're investing with this money not paying their tuition. The money they make from this is what they're pocketing.

This. Plus they give you grants on a portion of your loan so thats also "free" money. No system will be perfect. As always, there will be the bad apples that spoil the batch for everyone like with lenient return policies etc.

^ so if they have all this money in the first place, how did they qualify for a loan?

^by not disclosing the full amount of their savings when applying for a loan?

There are no more no interest grace periods anymore, they abolished that too. Interest starts accumulating the moment you are out of classes and you don't renew with them.

They do however give you a 7 month grace period to FIND a job and start paying them back. Its quite ridiculous and the reason why I'm working 30hrs a week on top of full time school at the same time and avoiding borrowing any money. Its not fun, but definitely better than owing a good 50k after grad.

You have to fall into a very specific bracket to get grants. I had no job in my first and second year of classes and I received zero grants from the government, nothing, zip, nada. I'm not sure what the specifics are but they are very stingy about it.

Lots of people with money saved up can get loans. And they can't possibly check everyone that applies.

All this shows is we're pushing more kids into higher education yet not teaching them a damn thing they need to know. Financial education is awful in this country.

Why is it ridiculous? I found it ridiculous that my peers were waiting till graduation to start looking for a job, while I had signed a contract near the beginning of 4th year to start the week after my last exam.

Its as if they learned nothing about the real world, which is sad. Do you want to compete with everyone graduating at the same time? or get your resume out earlier and secure a job before everyone else?

^
just a question because I'm planning on applying for jobs in my final semester.

A lot of companies in the field I'm in prefer students who have a degree. Did you put a note on your resume about graduation since technically you didn't graduate yet and don't have a degree?

I hope you didn't take a math degree.

3 years at half price + 1 year at full price == 2.5 years tuition
4 years at half price == 2 years tuition
4 years at full price == 4 years tuition

Thus you're either being dramatic, or cannot do basic math. It sucks that the government took away the grant, yet paying 1 full year would not have buried you.

people need to get off their asses and start finding jobs to help fund their own education, assuming they still live at home with parents, it is not hard to pay tuition with only a part-time job income

if you're forced to move out at 18 and need money for university, tough luck, you prob need a student loan

Absolutely. I couldn't expect to interview for a job in Sept and tell them I couldn't start till Apr. :) I even attached my 4th year course list and a transcript for the prior 3 years. Admittedly I lucked out searching so early and finding a company willing to hold a position for so long, yet that was during the tech bubble when companies were desperate for good employees.

If you're graduating in Apr you should be looking now. Many employers will be fine with holding a job for a month or 2. Why? Cause if they hire a good employee, usually that employee is at another job and needs 2-4 weeks to finish up and transition out - many people cannot just give 2 weeks notice and walk away.

pisses me off that I know people who are spending their student loans on toys while my tuition is so expensive the student loans barely cover it while I have no money for cost of living expenses.

As I said, when I sat down with the loan people when I first went to school they said 'You'll get X as loan and Y as a grant, at the end you'll be looking at Z payments monthly' and it was managable.

Then suddenly midway through my education things changed. So you sit there and go 'Well now do I bail and have all this debt and no degree, or do I continue and wrack up more debt and get a degree. I couldn't go on and do grad school because frankly, I couldn't afford to not be working personally.

It's very very easy for it to get out of control, as I said, it's not an honest or transparent system when you get into it, especially if you're in a position where you have no other financial options for going to school.

No we're not talking about just tuition (though that rose substantially in 2003/04 as well)

We're talking about a program that was in place for people who could not work enough to pay all their living costs (though I did work pt at SFU while I was there) so we're talking about about 90% of all living costs + tuition + books. We're talking in the 5 digit numbers yearly here, not 4. And it was (and still is) sold like the magic pill particular as I said to people with kids, or disabilities - if you take this route you'll be in better shape down the road when that frankly is NOT the truth.

I totally agree. I wish someone had taught me a lot of the shit I learned the hard way after school was over.