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Student debt can be ‘insurmountable’ – Metro US

Student debt can be ‘insurmountable’

Krisna Saravanamuttu, 22, knows how hard it is to scrape together enough cash to cover soaring tuition costs. The third-year criminology student at York University is already $20,000 in the hole because of student loans. With his sights set on law school, he expects that debt load to triple to $60,000 by the time he is called to the bar. He deems it “insurmountable.”

He’s not alone. Cash-strapped students will increasingly tap the Canada Student Loan Program to fund post-secondary studies over the next generation, even though the total number of students enrolling in college or university is forecast to decline, according to a report.

The Actuarial Report on the Canada Student Loan Program is an annual report card on the government-run lending program prepared by the chief actuary at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. The report provides a financial snapshot of the 2006-07 loan year and includes future projections through to 2031-32.

“Although the number of students enrolled full time in a post-secondary institution decreases over the projection period, the number of students receiving a CSLP loan increases from 345,000 in 2006-07 to 430,000 in 2031-32,” the report said. “This represents an increase in the loan uptake rate of students in post-secondary institutions from 36 per cent to 52 per cent.”