Student Loan Debt, how do you deal with it?

[Justine]

I know many of you are in the same predicament as me with student loans. You went to university/college and now you have a huge pile of student loan debt sitting there waiting to be paid. There is the option of getting interest relief while you wait to get that high-paying job, or you can start making payments on it, you can consolidate your loan at the bank and get a lower interest on it.

How much student loan debt do you have? is it getting you down?

[Cheapster1977]

Hi

I am student loan free 10 years paid it off 10 years ago about 10,000 in debt and you can consolidate into a debt consolidation loan dependin if the financial institution will approve and plus you can t declare bankruptcy until after 7 years and I had to repay 6 months after I graduated.

[Ricki911]

Im still in school and will be graduating come April. I owe OSAP over 16 thousand for 4 years. Come April I will pay it all off in full and wont owe a cent. I guess you could say I listen to my father for once and thank him for that. I worked all 4 years although part time I still worked even though I didnt hav to. I paid all my bills first before going out spending money (hoestly Im too frugal to spend all my pay cheque). I did without for the last 4 years and I mean on everything. I learnt to conserve and make some weird foods in the microwave.

I guess you could say I was smart going into college and knew I had a loan and would have to pay it back come the time I graduate. I hate wasting money on interest and such. I did without knowing it will save me money and my arse when I was done and most likely not able to find a job.

[Justine]

I worked the entire time that I was in school, it actually made me take two extra terms of school.

[Neurogirly]

Student loans, yikes. I am graduating this year as well and have a 30,000 dollar loan from both OSAP and my bank . I have not worked during my four years in university and I have no idea how I'm going to pay back my loans. I guess I'll be stuck accumulating a lot of interest. Poop.

But that is awesome that some people have been able to pay off their student debt!

[Justine]

Student loans, yikes. I am graduating this year as well and have a 30,000 dollar loan from both OSAP and my bank . I have not worked during my four years in university and I have no idea how I'm going to pay back my loans. I guess I'll be stuck accumulating a lot of interest. Poop.

But that is awesome that some people have been able to pay off their student debt!

I can relate to you, I have amount the same, all osap and this is 2 years after graduating, no job and no money put aside.

[Insane]

I'm pretty sure I can beat you all. I have over 100G in student loans (OSAP and bank). I worked some, but A LOT less when I had my son. I make good money now, but my cost of living expenses are high where I live. I can never seem to make a dent in the loans. Nearly 4 years out and it seems pretty hopeless. I have seriously considered bankruptcy or consumer proposal (OSAP can go to consumer proposal but not bankruptcy just yet). If it's going to take me more than 7yrs to get it paid off, then I'd be better off to file. But there is the stigma to it and a hence that I should pay it myself.
Currently I can't get a morgage because I have no much debt. I wish I had done things differently.

[Justine]

Insane - where you do live?

[eriluo]

I went to university for seven years and accumulated upon graduation over 60K in debt. I graduated when I was 24 and started immediately paying it off. I did go the low-interest route but after 11 years, I did pay it all off and have been student loan free for one year And I have also been in my field in my career for 11 years... so it takes a lot of patience and hard work, but you get there...

[mulock]

After I graduated from university, I owed $24k. Instead of sitting on my ass waiting for a job, I applied for jobs overseas. I found a great paying job, paid off all my student loans in 26 months, built up a nice nest egg, got non-resident status from Revenue Canada for taxation purposes (means I was no longer obligated to pay income tax to Canada while living overseas) and built up a nice credit rating. Now that I have moved back to Canada (after 7 years overseas banking cash), the banks love me.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

Much like a lot of other sc'ers I went to school for quite a while. I have 2 college diplomia's (marketing & HR) and 1 university degree (BA in Administration).

I was able to work while in college so I didn't acquire very much debt, however university was a different story! I found that I needed OSAP to pay for a lot more since the cost of living was higher than I was used to and because I didn't have the time to work.

After graduating I owed approximately 35K. That was 2 years ago and I have yet to work in my field. First I couldn't find a job (other than temping), then I had my daughter. Thankfully DH has a good job and has paid off 15K so far. He's an industrial plumber and makes way more than I ever could (with little to no post secondary debt). The trades are where it's at. LOL!

But seriously though, we pay $400 a month to OSAP and when we have any extra money (taxes, savings, etc) it goes straight to paying more to OSAP. I dont want to pay them for the next 10 years, especially since I am not working!

Darn those student loans!

[matrix82]

8 years of univerisity (undergrad and graduate). I owe around 80,000. When I get a job in my field I will make 30-40,000. I have however along the way if I have had any extra money put it in a savings account so that when I am through I will have the ability to make a lump sum payment.

My plan is to try to go on interest relief/repayment assistance for the first couple years, and make lump sum payments to pay down the principle faster without racking up interest. My goal is to have it payed off in under 10 years. I am not sure if that will happen or not. I just know I will try to pay as much as I can. I am hoping to be able to pay 10,000 a year or more.

My husband has around $50,000 in debt and he makes about $24,000 a year. He has been paying his loan down for the last five years, and its hardly making a dent in it because of interest. Although he has gotten a little relief as the government has some programs to reward ppl who graduate amd make payments etc.

[Natalka]

It took me 10 years to pay off my student loan - and two times during that period I asked for relief for a month or two when things were tough, and was denied both times.
If I couldn't find a job in my field, I just worked at anything - just to have an income. I figured I borrowed the money in good faith, and I would do anything and everything to repay it the same.

[Minou]

Wow. Student loan repayment sure makes for a long road to travel.

I was lucky. University is pretty inexpensive in Manitoba (I think it works out to be about $3600 or so a year for Arts-type courses.) Scholarships covered the first year, and my parents covered the next three. I worked while I was in university to pay for other expenses. I did two more years while I was working, and paid as I went. The fabulous part about the last year I took is that the Manitoba Gov't offers a tuition rebate for people who graduate from a program and stay in the province. I'll get $360 back for six years in a row just for staying in Manitoba. People who earned a 4-year degree in that period would get four times that each year.

I think Manitoba is a good place to be right now. The economy has been good, and there seem to be jobs available. The cost of living in Winnipeg is low relative to other major cities. Yes, it gets cold, and there are lots of mosquitoes, but maybe those aren't the worst things!

Anyone moving to Winnipeg? We have a London Drugs here!

[Justine]

Thanks for all the comments guys, nice to see that I am not alone in this.

I have a question, if you file your taxes as common law, will osap automatically know that you are common-law and hence then consider the income that your partner makes your income too? I know you can apply for interest relief if you make under a certain amount a month, but if you are married obviously it is your household income and not just yours, but is it the same for common law?