I live in Nova Scotia. When we get a student loan here we get a maximum amount from Canada Student Loan, and if they determine that we need more than their maximum then we get the rest from Nova Scotia Student Loan.
Between myself and my fiance we've had more trouble with these people than is even slightly reasonable. Here's just a few instances:
- My second year of college, they wouldn't give me ANY money at all, based on the fact that I'd worked that summer. If they'd paid any kind of attention to logic they'd have noticed that even if I'd managed to save every last penny of what I'd made, I still would have been $1000 short for my tuition.
- My fiance, right from the start in his first year, was given no end of trouble over the student loan forms. The forms require both of your parent's income tax info from the previous year. Problem is my fiance doesn't HAVE a dad. He f**ked off when he was super-young. Student loan seemed to refuse to accept this. He had to argue with no fewer than ten people before they made a "special exception" for him.
- After I finished college I filled out two repayment forms...one for the Canada loan and one for the Nova Scotia loan...to automatically withdraw payments from my account. The one for the Nova Scotia loan apparently got lost or some shit because they didn't start taking payments when they were supposed to. I was also moving and starting a new job at the time so I didn't notice the NS payments (which were very small...$30 or something) not coming out. Four months later I got a letter in the mail stating that I was in dilinquency and if I didn't pay off the ENTIRE LOAN (some $1100) within 45 days, it would be sent to a collection agency. Arguing with a bank rep about this only reduced me to tears so I got permission from my landlady to put off rent for two months and I used my first almost two months pay to get rid of the loan.
- In his second year, my fiance dropped out of the program he was taking as he'd decided he wanted to do something else. He dropped out in January, just as the second term was starting, so basically the college took all the money that he wouldn't be spending on that term's classes and residence fees and sent it back to student loan (about $7000). The following year when he enrolled in his new program and tried to get another loan, he was told that he couldn't get one until he paid back the $7000 he owed them for dropping out of school early. Yes, they tried to tell him that the school had never sent them the money. Almost three months later they finally admitted that they'd had the money all along.
And that's just the start of it. There's also stories about forms that they claimed weren't filled out right, information that got "lost", etc. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Also, I just thought I'd mention this gem because it always struck me as incredibly f**ked up. RIGHT on the form you fill out to request the loan, there is a list of information that you have to have and reasons why the loan might be rejected, stuff like that. One part explains that, until you are such and such an age, or have been out of highschool for however many years, you are considered a dependant and thus your parents' income will be taken into consideration - basically they ASSUME, whether it's true or not, that your parents will be contributing to your school fees. Right next to that section it says that "parental contribution" will not be disregarded, "REGARDLESS OF A PARENTS' REFUSAL TO CONTRIBUTE". Those exact words. So flat out, whether it's fair or not, even if your parents were to call up and say that they hated you and had kicked you out of the house when you were ten and they weren't giving you a damn penny, the status of your loan still depends on their income as though they were forking over their cash for you.
*huff* *puff* I think I'm done for now. >.>
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