Ending up with $28,000 in debt is not the graduation gift post-secondary students hope for, but it’s what lands in the lap of the average student, according to the Canadian Federation of Students.
Yesterday, the CFS announced on Parliament Hill that Canada’s students carry a $13-billion debt load and that 360,000 students required federal student loans this academic year.
But, it’s not just tuition the money goes towards, with some students biting bottom lips at the end of the month when cash just isn’t there.
“I would have to say there’s at least a little bit of money mismanagement,” said student Sarah Code, who stayed with her parents when she couldn’t afford to live alone.
Bruce Alger, a bankruptcy trustee and president of Alger & Associates Inc., said, “money’s an abstract concept” and “money handling ignorance” is what lands people in debt over their heads.
“It’s a lack of understanding of the concept of risk,” he said, adding student loans are risky as students lack assets and security, and education doesn’t always mean a high-paying job.
