Ok, I took on a shitload of student debt – my parents arent rich. I went through school trying to work and save every penny to pay for living expenses and books to minimize debt. I still pay a huge chunk of my pay on student debt. I got me a bachelors degree, realized this didnt entitle me to a job so I got some good experience, impressed the right people and got a decent paying job…. if so nothing else I would be able to pay my debt and buy food.
My partner paid for three degrees on loans, and has a very respectable job making good money. He pays almost 1500 a month on student loans.
We are struggling just to live our lives..nothing extravagant… one cheap car between us (last time you saw a lawyer driving a 8 year old civic?), occasional weekend road trip to the next town over just to stay sane and say we did something… occasional case of beer and cable TV. We can’t even fathom buying a place to live… unless someone finds us a nice place for 90,000$ that won’t require a second car…. I honestly feel that we deserve more… thats right, we DESERVE. We worked our asses off, didnt assume entitlement to anything because we have a few papers… we worked our asses off to get where we are… did the shitty jobs when we were starting out, put up with shit from horrible bosses..now we have apparently “good jobs”….
We smile and say “Well hunny, we have each other” and we do. What pisses me off is when our Student friends take daddy’s inheritance money and go jaunting off to Spain, Dubai, Berlin, London… anytime there is a break in Grad school off they go. Oh wait, they cancelled a few trips to go buy their $400K condo… which I wish I knew the secret to getting that kind of mortgage with no job.. but hey who am I to think my partner and I should be able to have any bit of a lifestyle. And yes – THIS IS FUCING SOUR GRAPES.
—Why_Bother_UI_Here_I_Come
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.
In all seriousness, OP, Dubai ain’t shit. I’d rather hang out in my garden.
Seen quite a few lawyers driving shit cars. You borrow money (for any reason), you have to pay it back or hope your parents kick off so you can get your grubby hands on their money. You’re no different than anyone else. That’s adult life, welcome to it.
Look, most of us don’t have rich parents paying for everything, and we’re socially better off. Nobody deserves anything they don’t earn, and just like the rest of us, your not getting a free ride. stop wining, and enjoy what you got, cus there’re lots of people who are worse off than a lawyer with a civic.
Move somewhere where you can make decent money, and you won’t have a problem OP… Choosing to get three degrees on a loan and then expecting to live the high life (which here means being able to afford to buy a house) in quaint old Nova Scotia? Good luck!!
You and your partner made a choice to do that many degrees on loans and then live in NS, I have friends (husband and wife) who have four degrees between them and had well over six figures in student loans, they went to the US, lived and worked for four years, now they live in NS, both have successful jobs and a beautiful house. We make our choices in life and we have to suck up the consequences of them.
OP, it’s very likely these friends of yours (who plan the big trips, then cancel them to stay in their $400k condos) have quite a bit of debt too. That probably doesn’t make you feel better, but at least you and your partner are not living beyond your means.
Some “friend” you are.
I’m glad I’m not the only one in this boat.
Apparently my payments/mo are going to be ~$1500, OP…after extending terms I should get away with ~900 a month…someone shoot me now.
Generally speaking the only way to improve your lot in life is to work for it. The loan payments won’t last forever, especially if you have a good job and make repayment a priority. Once you’ve cleared your student debt you can start accumulating house, car and travel related debt.
Wow I feel lucky. My parents aren’t rich but at least they knew to save for college for me and my sisters. Managed to get halfway through one degree with that money, most of the rest on my I earned myself and one year of student loans.
No wait I’m just damn lucky…
I know the feeling. I have a degree plus my Masters. I am not complaining,. I make a decent living and am happy to have a job. But when I see some of these fucking union members (like the garbage workers in Toronto) going on strike because 25 fucking bucks an hour is not enough it makes me want to puke. At times I feel I should have just skipped school and got a good union job.
Nobody owes you a living. I hate students who bitch about being fortunate enough to go into debt. Move to a bigger city (or for that matter bigger economic country) and ply your trade for the big $ there for a while. Think of it as the experience part of becoming a well paid professional – you didn’t think it was just a matter of getting a piece of paper from a school did you?
I don’t think you have as much reason to be pissed off at those who had their tuition paid for by their rich parents as much as you should be pissed you have to pay tuition at all in this country. A university education is free in many parts of the world- most of Europe, for instance. Why not Canada?
am i supposed to feel bad? my parents worked hard for their money that they’ve kindly put towards my education. I dont brag about it (i got taught things like manners and respect too). I went to Europe through school- but yah, a lot of my friends can’t/couldn’t do that. I resent these comments/posts about student loans blah blah blah… because the OP ALWAYS has to say something about “daddy’s little trust fund baby spending all their dough”… fucking grumble to people who can sympathize but to put these kinds of post on a public forum just makes you sound petty, however anonymous you may be.
“A university education is free in many parts of the world- most of Europe, for instance. Why not Canada?”
It’s 75% free. 25% is covered by students in the form of tuition. I think that’s a nice balance. How many more 1000’s of people would go to university if it were 100% covered by the tax payer?
Tim, why have you actually been there?
OP, in NS you can have 10 degrees and still be poor. Cabbies make more than I do and that job doesn’t need a university education. Dartmouthy said it right, you need to move to improve. If you stay here, it will stay like this for some time.
Some cab drivers here are PhDs, man, or have a life-experience that none of us can begin to fathom. Some of my cab drivers were Palestinians who were children during the expulsion of the late 40s and migrated to Canada.
If/when I retire, I’d love to drive a cab and listen to people’s stories.
Iraq used to have free education before they were ass-fucked by the US and Israel. Same with Cuba.
Universities in North America are businesses as well as “educational institutions” so there’s some money to be made. Imagine if Disney had a school. A few years back there was an article in a local paper that talked about how local universities were more “corporate” style rather than “institution” style and even made a crack about Dalhousie changing its name from Dal U to Dal Inc.
JohnnyB: my parents saved for me for university — and they had the income to pay for my tuition at acadia than my dad lost his job because the company he worked for for 30 years closed operations in halifax during my grade 12 year. I wouldn’t’ve even qualified for any student loans (other than bank loans) if dad hadn’t lost his job.
So even when your parents do know to save for their kids’ post secondary education, shit happens, or they might not just be able to afford it.
If I was starting university NOW they’d be able to afford my tuition, but back when I first started it just wasn’t financially feasible, and here I am.
I agree with what F7 said. I always get a little laugh out of people who look down their nose at me when they find out my parents paid for my tuition. My parents scrimped and saved to accumulate that money for me and my siblings; they went without a lot of things, like fancy vacations, and the up-to-date furniture, appliances, cars and clothes many people in my snobby small town seemed preoccupied with having. I guess according to these people, when the time for university rolled around I should have just been like “thanks for all your sacrifice Mom and Dad, but you can keep that money – I’d rather get two hours of sleep a night while I go to classes and work full time, so I can get that all-important pulled-myself-up-by-my-bootstraps cred.”
As a doctor/lawyer couple with over 20 years of University combined and a car worth less than your Civic as our only asset, and almost 200k in student debt -I can sympathize. It’s no fun to watch all your friends and family have kids, get mortgages and buy new cars with their 4 year degrees and 9-4 HR jobs as they bitch about how overpaid you hopefully might one day become. Heck friends in the Forces are retiring on full pensions before we even start practicing… Don’t even get me started on the Grade 10ers digging holes in Alberta for 100k+. I guess we all dig our own holes though and eventually we’ll be out of ours, just without many offspring… I can’t say the ride hasn’t been worth it but higher education is no route to fame and fortune.
NGF, there may be free university in Cuba, but a doctor or a secretary make the same pay, about $15/month, accomodations (Shannon Park is in better shape), and a ration card for necessities. The real money makers are the people who work on the resorts.
Be careful about comparing one part of the world to another.
Murder Junkie, you are a tool. yes, I’ll just seclude myself from everyone I’ve ever known because that’s the only way to get the green to pay this shit off…. I know I can be making more somewhere else, but I think “for jollies sake”, I’ll stay where I know I can see family once in a while. (keeping in mind, I work in IT so the location doesn’t matter all that much)
Scooby, almost makes me want to move to france… but then I remember I nearly failed french…much to the amusement of my fellow classmates since I excelled at every other subject and they all grew up learning it so I swung the bell curve down a few notches.
F7, I don’t think you helped the cause by bragging about your excursions. I’d love to see the pics you had while away but the fact that parents paid your way makes me hope that you somehow earned it other than them fucking one night and wanted to ensure you saw the world before you have to either 1. change their diapers or 2. pay for someone to change their diapers.
Ah Molerat… if you don’t have the payments,then you just don’t know.
They heckle and call to no end for money you simply can’t provide.
Vacation??? what’s that? I haven’t had a vacation in 8 years. I sit and grind it out and hope to see a busker on the waterfront every year. Count your lucky stars mate because even before this recession, many people couldn’t afford to squirrel away the cash to get a decent education. Dude, (and I know you’re a bird, but whatever) I’d be a garbage collector if I knew it would pay the bills and not get yelled at so often. (NO offence to garbage collectors… hell I WANT to be part of the team)
Sour grapes is all it is. Dollars are thrown at them and they suck it up like a hurricane in New Orleans. Enjoy the time you have (and torrent instead of paying for cable to save a few $$$’s) and make the best of your life. Know there are others out there that are struggling through the same hardships and that it’s not going to change overnight.
This Damn Worl Be Crazy Y’all
IMPORTANT: don’t flip your toast over it.
Pretty Kitty: I know one of my sisters decided to go an education route that invalidated the savings my parents had made. They were disappointed but supportive.
Also my dad had to go looking for a new job after my youngest sister finished her degree, just under the wire so to speak or she’d have needed 4 years of loans.
So I guess my point is education wise my family came out lucky. The plans paid off and the only one who had to borrow money was me. The idiot who drank a little too much and had to retake some classes.
You’re right, Scooby Doo. I’ve also recently been informed that a ‘Quebec citizen’ gets two thirds of their tuition reimbursed. Had I known that then…
as long as people like the OP continue to throw in clauses about “daddy’s precious trust fund babies” — i will brag my skinny ass off and pretend like I haven’t asked my parents for a cent since I’ve been old enough to have a job, just to piss you (OP) off more, and pretend like my parents didn’t teach me the importance of financial independence. thats what you get for throwing in that last paragraph, you petty motherfucker. plz shove your sour grapes.
OH WAAAAA,
Suck it up, you both have jobs. You are already doing better then alot of the population. Geesh! What did you expect your own law firm and a new beemer at graduation? You have been watching too much Law dramas on TV. Poor lawyers, thats funny.
I didn’t say I don’t have student loans 😛 Tuition don’t pay for everything.
JohnnyB, my sibling did the same thing, and my parents were pretty disappointed…but supportive, like yours. I think they are just glad that he IS finally getting an education.
75% free, Overbee?? What a farce. It’s exactly like NGF says; universities are run like businesses here in NA. How is this “fair”???
To get into the master’s program I ended up in (4 years from start to finish), a student could not be admitted without a minimum of 2 year’s undergrad experience, so most of us came in with a full degree (which costs approx. $30,000, not including books and living expenses). I managed to work through my undergrad and so had almost no debt, but once starting the master’s program, I barely had time to eat, let alone hold down a part-time job. This was exactly how it was intended to be by program directors (their bullshit way of weeding out the people they deem ‘not good enough’, I suppose); my classmates were all the same. So what did we do? Paid our tuition with student loans and our supplies and living expenses with bank loans. Tuition was about $3,800 per semester and we had 3 semesters per year. This means the price for my education ALONE was nearly $48,000…on top of the undergrad . I did manage to get some help from my parents, which means I graduated with nearly $50,000 of debt. And you say 75% of the cost is free to us. Bullshit.
BTW, comparing Canada to countries like Cuba where an education is free is ridiculous- there are plenty of countries which are completely “first world’ where tuition is still free. How about the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy…
How is running a university like a business unfair?
Someone has to pay for the universities to operate. The major funding sources for universities are Government funding, Tuition, private/corporate investment and donations from alumni. Tuition can cover about 25-50% of a university’s costs, so the 75% free number wasn’t total bullshit.
As it is now, university is very accessible to Canadians from all economic backgrounds, but just because it is accessible, does not mean it should be accessed. We are flooding the market with university grads that can’t find jobs so many students are unable to repay their loans. Why should the government burden tax payers and pay millions (possibly billions) more to universities to provide “free” education to individuals, many of whom will not financially benefit from their education investment? Shouldn’t the individual be the one responsible for financing their secondary education? If you make a poor investment by investing in yourself, why should I, the taxpayer have to pay for that? I would rather see that money go into supporting the growth of industries that can caplitalize on our educated workforce and create jobs for these herds of university grads, rather than bailing out auto industries and recruiting call centers. Until that happens, we might as well reduce university enrollment and save the 20-somethings a lot of time and money since they will only end up slinging coffee and listening to cranky customers bitch at them anyway.
“Reduce university enrollment.” What a swell idea, Miles. Actually, the idea of my tax dollars going towards education appeals to me very much, as I’d rather not have a bunch of rednecked hillbillies voting for my country’s leaders.
I wonder how many students out there do to universities away from home for the “experience”. Any student from here should not have to leave the city to get their education. Halifax offers more universities with just about every discipline there is. So being from here your only expenses shoud be the tuition, supplies, and bus pass, all of which are tax deductible.
Ok, I’m totally going to bitch about this one. Poor lawyers – another one of those moments where if you don’t know you shouldn’t comment. Let’s look at the facts. Tuition at Dal is approximately $10,000 (before books). For three years that’s $30,000. That means that a full student loan doesn’t even cover the tuition. Dal put a cap on all tuition increases a while back, right – except for Dentistry, Medicine and Law. All of which went up 30% each year instead.
So, if you’re not lucky enough to have parents who can cover tuition or help out at all you have two options: (1) get a job or (2) get a line of credit. A job necessarily means that you spend time doing that job. Law school ain’t easy. Your grades will likely suffer, and with all that competition it means you’re not the one getting the plum job at the end of the day. So that leaves option (2). If you estimate about $10,000/year for books and living that’s another $30,000. So…$60,000 later you have a great degree. But you get a job as an articling student, in NS that makes you a max of around $40,000 (if you’re lucky). Your annual income won’t even equal your debt load for at least 3 years if you’re at one of the big firms and a lot longer if you decide to settle in rural NS.
Yeah, I know, lawyers have GREAT earning potential, but I’d have to move elsewhere to realize it prior to 10 years post grad. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not bitching about the wages here in NS, I know I could have gone to TO and made double, and it’s a choice I made. But it is hard coming out of school with that much debt. I know that medicine and dentistry are even worse – I think dentists have to buy their tools which cost an amazing amount of money.
It’s also sad that those that want to pursue more social avenues with their law/medicine degree have an even tougher time. The system is set up to produce students that pursue big money paths rather than what they perhaps originally went to school to do.
So I’d kill for a civic, or any wheels really, and I have to cross my fingers that some day soon a bank will look at that ‘future potential’ and give me a mortgage. Not holding my breath. That’s my rant.