I graduated with aboutg $30K in debt in 1995. After four jobless years a bankruptcy cleared that up (it took seven years for my credit record to clear, and bankruptcy laws have been altered to single out punitive regulations against students).

I took another degree in the new millenium, again funded on $30K of student loans. My solution here? Pay it all off by buying a house and using the line of credit, whose interest rate is far, far lower than those for student loans (again, needlessly higher for student loans). Now I have the next 35 years to pay it off!

Moral of the story: be born rich, because student loans are hobbling to any graduate's life.

My sister was able to qualify for a great busary from the Firefighters Union. This would cover her tuition so she worked for 5 years and saved enough to cover food, books, bus pass and personal items with the help of a student loan for the 4 years she would attend university. She budgeted very carefully to have enough to manage the four years.

The first year she received nothing in loans because she had savings. She had to use all the saving to cover her housing and food costs. The second, third and fourth year she qualified for loan but had nothing to cover her food or books. She became a pro at borrowing books, visiting Chapters and getting her info from the books on display. Care packages came from family and friends to help feed her.

The lesson? If you work hard, plan and save you will get less help and end up in a worse place than if you do nothing.

McGuinty ought to be ashamed of himself for letting students down like this. For someone who got a law degree for so cheap, he should not expect students to pay so much more. I know inflation accounts for something, but since the mid-1990's tuition fees have tripled versus inflation. Shame on you McGuinty!

Just a thought, but perhaps a degree in globalization may not have been the best choice given how tight your finances are / will continue to be. I am not completely familiar with careers in globalization but I hope for your sake they pay well... whatever they are. While I admire your passion for vegan food and feeding people for what is likely at best a break-even proposition, I am unsure you have much to complain about.

Much of your current financial predicament is of your own doing. I really liked my greek mythology during my undergrad course work, but as much as I liked it... spending several years and thousands of dollars on a degree in greek mythology would have been a sucker move. Honestly. Life is expensive... get used to it.

You note having to choose between food and text books. Soon you will have to choose between food and your student loan payment. I wonder how much you will value your globalization degree at that point. I came from modest means and paid my way through university also... and earned a degree in a field which pays me enough to pay my debts, feed myself and put a roof over my sons head. I shudder to think what would have happened if I ended up with that degree in greek mythology.

University is a joke, a scam, and not worth it.
Unless you get value degrees like enginneering, denistry, law (which is debatable as there are far too many lawyers),education (complete write off you may be subbing for 20 yrs-Ontario 600,000 too many teachers), medicine,pharmacology there is utterly no point in going.
Unfortunately, those professional programs require two years at least of 'academic study' and you have to be sure you will be able to beat the competition.
Hence much better to go to BCIT,Nait, Sait, or an Ontario Polytechnic, at least you come out with a job.

In terms of student finances, I have been there. March 1993 I had $5 in my bank account, rent due and 2 cans of soup in my cupboard. Through a tax return, getting some part-time work I was able to finish out the year and graduated the next year. I have since had a very successful career, due in part to learning about the sacrifices and what it was like to live in level of poverty.

What upsets me today is that I see recent grads who complain about tuition fees, working in a coffee shop and $80K in debt and a university degree.

Tuition fees -> go to any university web site an look at what foreign student's fees are... some are 10x what local students are paying. Those are the actual fees for *all* students, but resident's fees are highly subsudized and paid for with tax dollars (as a tax payer... your welcome) I think that the total fee should be shown on the tuition bill and the taxpayer portion shown on there as a discount. Maybe that perspective will make you think twice about protesting tuition fees.

Now that I am older, there are a number of general interest courses I take, literature, history, even beermaking! When I went to post-secondary school, I took Computer techology, something that was marketable to potential employers. I am astonished when I hear of a student, deep in debt, taking an education in which there are no immediate marketable benefits.

Yes having a masters in history is interesting, but at the end of the day, more chances than not will not pay the bills. This is something that does not seem to be considered when choosing an education, its more than just a life experience, it should be an investment! The interesting stuff can come later.

As a business owner, at the end of the day, if you can communicate, have the basic problem solving skills and a foundation in the basics of something marketable (software development in my case) then I would potentially hire you, even with little experience (this will come). All it takes is a little forethought on choosing an education.

Thanks for reading my rant.

If you want to keep your debt under control, the best advice is to get a degree in a field you can find a job in immediately. The student in this story is unlikely to get a job using her training for at least a decade.

The arguments put forth are ludicrous. First, individuals with a university educatoin stand to earn, on average, roughly 25% more annually than their non-university educated counterparts. A university education can easily be viewed as an investment... with a long turn return that goes WAY WAY WAY behond that tiny $15K loan to obtain it!

What is this rubbish about choosing between food and text books? This 'student' (read Canadian Federation of Students plant - you can tell by the ridiculous 'drop fees' poster she's holding) has time to "do a lot of volunteer work" with at least 3 campus groups... but can't find time to do enough remunerated work to eat? Oh ya, sorry, "volunteer to gain work and life experience find a job". Hmmmm... how about just working, work sounds like pretty good work and life experience to me. Oh ya, but you need to work at work (not so prefereable).

I'm sorry, but the buck has to stop somewhere. How can these people really expect to tell everyday, hard working Canadians that they need to pay even more (that's right, a substantial portion of our tax $ goes to post-secondary education) for this kid to (a) get a university education which will get her more $ than me, and (b) so that she can play at all the things she is 'passionate' about instead of working a bit more to contribute to her own education?

This is offensive and I for one have had more than enough of these Canadian Federation of Students crazies masquerading as students so that they can advance their ludicrous NDP agenda... while charging students a fortune in lobbying fees. WAKE UP CBC! you are being played by the unofficial youth wing of the NDP... right before election time.

Next up: the CFS releases their bogus 'report card on education' where the only party not to 'fail' is, drum role please, the NDP who promise a massive 're-investment' in education which they know they can't deliver without raising taxes or bankrupting the country.

Sarah, I understand your predicament. Those of us who have been through university and weren't born with silver spoons know the issues you face all too well. I've been out of school for 6 years or so and well remember the choice between a textbook, lab fees, and kraft dinner. I racked up the student loans during my time there and graduated with substantial debt - which I worked hard to pay off as quickly as I did.

Unfortunately, what people tend to forget is that education is an investment in your future and like most investments, you go without now for a hopefully higher payoff down the road. You'll be nursing that student loan for years after graduation, but once done, you'll look back on it as a source of pride. YOU paid it off. You didn't need anyone else to give you grants or handouts to do it.

Higher education is not a right as much as some claim it is. You have to have the financial ability to get into University much like you need to have the intelligence to get into the school of your choosing. Take pride in you're ability to continue on. Being able to finish University is as much as a test of financial and mental endurance as it is of your intelligence.

i'm a 16 year old high school student looking for part-time worrk after school

You really can't win, can you?

You play by the rules, work insane hours during high school (with suffering grades when an excess of 10 hours/week is worked, as has been verified empirically), still take on debt while working through the school year and summer through university, then get blamed for living outside your means.

Or, you can just say "to hell with it" and enter the job market right out of high school. Since about 70% of new jobs (especially the ones that'll pay a living wage... about $14/hour in Ottawa, for example) require post-secondary education (and boomers aren't retiring because their pensions have been pissed or taken away by their bosses), you'll be in the shit.

But that's your fault for not getting an education, right?

Please.

The reality is, funding is being pulled from post-secondary (and healthcare, and womens' pay in the government, and wages across the board) to give bailouts to banks, tax cuts to bosses, and hot rounds of live ammunition to the torsos of foreigners.

It's us, the working class, who's paying for it, and until we quit blaming each other and focus on the root of the problem, we won't get anywhere.