No Tax Breaks for Students

With a surplus of over $11 billion dollars, the Canadian government plans to put $10 billion dollars of it towards paying down the federal debt. The rest of the surplus will go towards corporate tax cuts that will amount to more than $14 billion dollars over the next half decade while personal income tax cuts will be cut by some $46 billion dollars. That, together with the GST cut to 5% will result in a savings of $180 dollars for families in the lowest tax bracket. I’m impressed. Finally I’ll be able to afford an entire college textbook. With so much money floating around Ottawa, one would think giving post-secondary students a little break in interest on their student loans wouldn’t be too much to ask. With the number of countries who have abolished tuition fees on the rise, I would hope that a country as rich as Canada would do more to help its student population deal with their educational debt. My cousin in Denmark has completed her college education recently, has zero debt and can start her working life with a clean slate while I, her lucky cousin, who lives in the “best place on Earth” have to worry about the monthly student loan payments I’m going to have to start paying in a few weeks even though I’ve only completed half my degree. You’ll have to excuse me if I sound a little bitter, it’s only because I am. It’s not my fault that life has thrown me a curve ball with a recurrent medical condition that has resulted in a number of withdrawals and unsuccessful terms at college, too many in fact that I’ve recently exhausted all the appeals afforded to me through the Student Loans Appeals Committee. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not feeling sorry for myself; all I really want is to be able to finish my BA in English. That’s going to be quite difficult now that I have to pay for the rest of my education myself with a part time job while at the same time having to start repaying my student loan of some $40,000 because I cannot afford to attend college on a full time basis. I know that I’m not the only one in dire straits and that’s exactly why I find it appalling that the government plans to use $10 billion dollars to pay down the federal debt while thousands upon thousands of college and university students sink deeper and deeper into debt with no light at the end of the tunnel.