Tag: student debt counselling

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Brandon Blog Post

#VIDEO-STUDENT DEBT: HOW TUITION COSTS AND DEBT NEGATIVELY AFFECTS US#

STUDENT DEBT: HOW TUITION COSTS AND DEBT NEGATIVELY AFFECTS US

Student debt: The times have changed already!

Times have changed so much for university graduates and unfortunately, student debt counselling has not kept pace with today’s reality. Students graduate with various student loans and varying amounts of debt. The theory is that graduates will get a well-paying job in their chosen field upon graduation, allowing them to work and to repay their student loan debt.

Our previous student debt counselling and student loans blogs and vlogs

Student loan debt is such a serious issue that we’ve written a series of blogs and vlogs on the subject:

Student debt: What can today’s graduates expect?

However, in today’s world, their job searching may result in them not getting immediately into their field at the salary they anticipated. It may be the case that graduates may have to do a couple of different part-time jobs, may start being underemployed and in some cases, starting out interning and being in their chosen field but not being paid at all. This will put immense pressure on the new graduate who needs to start repaying debt in addition to normal living expenses.

Student debt: How much of a problem is it really?

Post-secondary education is effectively a need to succeed in today’s labour market. Unfortunately, while the demand for education has increased, public funding has failed to keep up.

According to the Canadian Federation of Students, public funding shortfalls have resulted in a significant growth of costs that students must now bear, namely in the form of high tuition fees. From 1990 to 2014, national average tuition fees have seen an inflation-adjusted increase of over 155%. In Ontario, tuition fees have increased over 180%.

They also state that students who receive funding through the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) are graduating with an average student loan debt of $28,495. This is only student loan debt and doesn’t include any other borrowings for living expenses if the student is living away from home. The impact of Canada student loan debt is that today’s students are the most indebted generation in Canadian history. They can certainly use student debt counselling.

Student debt: We need more than just counselling

Although financial counselling should begin at home at a very young age, and be reinforced through teachings at the high school level, more than debt management lessons are required. We need our provincial and federal governments to take the lead. There needs to be an easing of the burden on graduates. Graduates with high student loan debt show signs of poor mental health in early adulthood. This certainly must impact their work performance and is not healthy for Canadian society.

Our governments need to look seriously at the public funding model for post-secondary school education. It is not helping Canadians to allow them to incur high student debt for fields of study where the job prospects, and the prospect of being able to repay the loans, are dim. It does not help Canadian graduates to have them under so much pressure to repay loans after graduation – perhaps there needs to be federal government intervention to ease the repayment program. In this way graduates can have the necessary time to get their employment, contribute to Canadian society, pay income taxes AND repay student loans.

These are just but a few simple ideas. I am sure that you can come up with many more and I would love to hear about them.

Are you in need of student debt counselling or credit or debt counselling in general?

No matter the cause of your serious debt issues, The Ira Smith Team is here to help. Debt is not insurmountable; there are always options. With proper counselling, immediate action and a solid plan, we can help get your life back on track Starting Over, Starting Now. Our trustees are also certified in credit counselling. Give us a call today.

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THIS VLOG WAS INSPIRED IN PART BY OUR eBOOK – PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY CANADA: Not because you are a dummy, because you need to get your life back on track

 

 

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Brandon Blog Post

STUDENT DEBT COUNSELLING: ARE WE DOING ENOUGH TO REDUCE THE COST OF STUDENT LOANS?

canada student loan, student loans, student loan debt, Amazon, Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime Student, student loan repayment, discounted student loans, marie brunner, student debt, student debt counselling, the impact of student debt, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (TV Program), John Oliver (TV Writer), HBO (TV Network), last week tonight, john oliver, hbo, student debt, student loans, for profit colleges, itt tech, student loan debt canada, student loan debt consolidation, student loan debt statistics, student loan debt crisis, student loan debt forgiveness, student loan debt reduction, student loan debt relief, student loan debt storiesAmazon Prime getting into the US student loan business but not student debt counselling

As you will see from this blog, there is a huge need for student debt counselling, as new entrants into the student loan business are enticing students with new offers. The financial services industry in the United States is changing rapidly with many non-traditional companies getting into the game. The latest is Amazon Prime. They’re now offering discounted student loans to Amazon Prime Student customers through a partnership with Wells Fargo.

Although this type of program is now only available in the U.S., and while we typically discuss things that affect Canadians, we felt that anything that could cut the cost of a student loan was worth reporting. However, keep in mind that this does nothing for student debt counselling so that students are better able to handle debt. It is merely a financial opportunity with little risk as further described below.

Our previous student debt counselling and student loans blogs and vlogs

Student loan debt is such a serious issue that we’ve written a series of blogs and vlogs on the subject.

Canadian Federation of Students study

According to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the impact of Canada student loan debt is that today’s students are the most indebted generation in Canadian history. They can certainly use student debt counselling.

The average student graduates with over $28,000 of debt. Tuition fees and living costs continue to rise, and there’s no solution in sight. The CFS has been lobbying the federal government for students, to no avail. And it’s not better south of the border where tuitions and the student loan debt is proportionally greater.

Perhaps CFS should also lobby the provincial governments to include student debt counselling as a mandatory grade 12 subject in high school!

Is Student Debt Counselling Being Offered to Amazon Prime Student customers?

Through the partnership, Wells Fargo is not offering any student debt counselling, but is offering student loans Amazon Prime Student Customers (not students whose parents have a Prime membership of their own):

  • A 0.50% interest rate discount
  • This can be added on top of a 0.25% interest rate reduction for enrolling in an automatic monthly loan repayment plan
  • In addition, any interest rate discount tied to another Wells Fargo global promotion

Students can apply for a new student loan or refinance existing student loans.

Why would Amazon Prime want to get into the student loan business

Of course this partnership benefits Amazon and Wells Fargo financially. However, it does not give any education to college students through student debt counselling. Amazon Prime will no doubt have many more sign ups and Wells Fargo will have access to many more potential borrowers. But the bottom line is that the student will benefit by having access to discounted student loans. Hopefully someone in Canada will also find a way to help lighten the student loan debt load.

However, there is even a greater reason. In Canada, a bankruptcy discharge will only end student loans if you’ve ceased to be a full or part-time student for more than seven years and either declare personal bankruptcy or make a debt proposal to your creditors, most likely through a consumer proposal. The only other option is to attempt to seek from the Court relief because of undue hardship, but this is very difficult, if not impossible.

If you think it is difficult under Canadian law to end student loans, it really is impossible under the US Bankruptcy Code. The leading case in the US, which subsequent decisions have followed, is, Marie Brunner v. New York State Higher Education Services Corp. (October 14, 1987, #41, Docket 87-5013). This case set a precedent for defining the concept “undue hardship” in bankruptcy discharges of student loans.

Suffice to say that if a bankrupt in the US is seeking a discharge of all of his or her debts, including student loan debt, the mere fact that they can afford to hire and pay an attorney can be used as evidence that if they have funds to pay legal counsel, then there is no undue hardship for them to agree to a repayment plan on account of the student loan debt after they get their discharge from bankruptcy and their non-student loan debts.

Since the debt will in almost every case always be owing and payable, it is a safe bet for Amazon Prime.

Are you in need of student debt counselling or credit counselling?

No matter the cause of your serious debt issues, The Ira Smith Team is here to help. Debt is not insurmountable; there are always options. With proper counselling, immediate action and a solid plan, we can help get your life back on track Starting Over, Starting Now. Our trustees are also certified in credit counselling. Give us a call today.

Call a Trustee Now!