
Hello Folks, Fans and Freaks!
Today’s story is a comment to a news article about Student Loans. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raj-date/student-loans-know-before_b_1062611.html?ir=Canada
I had typed out this entire article only to find out it was 1200 words too long once I tried to submit it to the HuffPost! (They should really have a real time word counter!)
And so here is the full story from that comment. Enjoy!
I was born in 1979, that makes me 32 today! Whew! What a life it’s been so far!
I started off working for my step father in his print shop at the age of 13, sweeping floors and watching printing presses for errors. By the age of 20 I had been fully immersed in the printing world. I knew absolutely everything there was to know in all of the departments. The comfy chair of the
in-house graphic designer made its call to me and that is where I spent most of those 7 years.
When my mom and step father had a big falling out, I no longer had a job with the company.
Being only 20 years old and never having had a real job in my life, i had no idea of the rights I had to save my job and so I went off to work in many different call centers, as those were the only places hiring people my age with absolutely no work experience. (Back in the day, I would wake up around noon, go down to the basement print shop in my boxers, print some items, deliver them by 2pm and go back to bed, so my work ethics and stamina were nil.)
I had nearly 10 years of graphic design skills behind me, and yet nobody anywhere would believe that a kid so young had done the jobs I had done. My step fathers’ hate for my mother had him go out of his way to ensure I was black-listed from all the print shops in my home city. I had no chance of succeeding in the Graphic design industry.
Designers at my skill level at the time, year 2000, were making about 24$/hr when working for another establishment. (I had been making $100/hr since i was 16 years old, spoiled!)
I figured that my step fathers reach couldn’t have gone to other cities and that if I had a degree of some sort, there was no way they could turn me down!
This was around the same time that our local Community colleges were sending informational packages to EVERYONE. In big bold print on one of the title pages were the word “Graphic Design/Multimedia and Pre-Press” After reading through their literature I was convinced that this was what I needed.
Because of strange circumstances, I owned the house in which we all lived. When the business left, i could no longer afford it and i had bankrupted over $100,000 of debt. Keep in mind i was only 20 years old. I had applied for a student loan to pay for the college fees and living expenses. The first loan was turned down because of my recent bankruptcy, and tuition was paid for in kind by my grandfather.
I worked a few jobs and did my personal hustle and grind to pay the bills.
I had dipped into my tuition funds during the first year, and If i did not pay them before the starting of year 2, i would not be allowed back in to the school. I worked all summer, every day, two or three jobs, and after paying rent and bills all summer, i was not any closer to my goal.
Day 1 of year 2 was only two week away. I was desperate, my family did not know i had spent the previous years tuition and could not return. I applied for a Canada Student Loan.
I did not read any of the literature they sent, i just wanted the money!
It was mid September when the loan came through! Thank God!
However, it was starling to see how much money they had given me. It was well over 10 grand, tuition was only 1200 per year, the cost of living around the school was pretty cheap too. There was no reason for such a large amount to be given. Anyways, i took the money, and i spent it all! i paid back all monies owed to everyone! Life was good!
We all went broke before the end of the year, and were going to the local food banks to eat. We had no heat or electricity in our home because we couldn’t afford it, and we ended up bailing on our landlord for the final month of rent.
That summer, i spent every day searching for a graphic design job, there were absolutely none! These were comfy life-timer jobs that had already been filled. When i asked my professor about the troubles I was having finding a job, he informed me that the course i took was only an introduction, and that it would only get my foot in the door, to say a bindery, or a floor sweeper.
What? I wanted my designer job back! I wanted to sleep in til noon and work in my shorts! What is this crazy life all about anyways? It was at this point i realized i had been spoiled my entire life. This was shocking to me because before my step fathers business came into our lives, we lived far below the poverty level, welfare and all and so I always felt like i came from nothing and had nothing. (Yes, even though i had been making $1500/week for roughly 7 years)
When i entered the college, designers were making on average $24/hr… my schooling was for two years, so after my first year, the previous year of designers was graduating and going off into the work force, that was about 30 designers looking for jobs on the east coast.
After I graduated, that added another 30 people, this is from only one school, there were many other schools graduating 30 students at a time. The most horrifying part of all of this was that the designers were now making at most $12.00/hour. What happened to my $100/hr?
So by the time I finished my course, the market was flooded, and there were no jobs for us anymore.
Why had the government not the brains to foresee this happening? And why even if they did foresee it happening would they continue to dish out loans for these jobs that don’t exist?
I was pissed. I had no hope. And so i decided to go back to school again, only for the loan. The money came in and i bounced. I spent the funds on a new computer and some rent and began doing my own freelance graphic design.
I did not enable any of the ‘interest relief’ programs that were available to me because i did not know about them, and they have since expired. Because i have defaulted on the loan by non-payment, the government now holds all my GST and Income Tax returns and applies them to the loan, so each year that pretty much pays off the interest and i’m left with the original loan, which is currently up to over $13,000.00
Please be careful when you apply for a loan. Please read everything and know what you are getting into! This loan is now permanently on my credit report. Currently i can not rent a dvd, or an apartment, or have power or a cellphone or a telephone in my name because of this loan that plagues my credit report. At 32, i am still a starving artist who can barely make ends meet and I never have a surplus of money to be paying on loans like this. I had made bad decisions in my past and am now living meagerly with them. Had i known i would never have gone to school and maybe today I could have my own appartment insted of relying on friends to live with and share in utilities.
Jay Cole