Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cubanlord]

Reading this board, speaking to people around the city, I have come to understand that a lot of the people from Canada that come here are here due to their student loans. My knowledge in Canadian student loans is extremely limited. Could someone tell me why student loans are such a burden? Is it because the interest rates in Canada are high? Is it because the cost of attending a university in Canada is more expensive than it is in The States? I really don't have a clue but am curious.

I, for one, have student loans from home. However, my interest rate is just below 3%. It isn't so bad that I would have to leave my country to go to another country where i can easily save up some cash to pay it off.

[ajgeddes]

I think it's that people don't want to be paying them off for the next 20 years. It is better to just pay them off as quickly as possible. Who wants to have loans gaining interest, even at 3% for the next 10 years if you could just pay it off. I myself have no student loans and I am lucky for that.

University in Canada is MUCH cheaper than in the USA. From the best to worst university, the rates don't really fluctuate much (unless you are from Quebec). In general, tuition for one year is about $4500-$5500CDN. then you bring living and all that crap in, and it costs roughly $12,000-$15,000CDN per year.

[ajgeddes]

No one HAS to leave the country, either. People choose to leave the country so they can go to another country and see new things.

[SOOHWA101]

I got lucky in finding a Texas A&M sister school in BFE because tuition is cheap...well in comparison to the main campus anyway. My student loans accrue $14,100 USD a year. With a four year institution...well you do the math. So travelling to never never land to only get raked 3% in taxes, free rent, no car payment, and to make about the same annually is a real shortcut to debt-frees-ville.

Also, this little war of ours is expensive. So now our student loan interest rates are slowly rising. Way to stick it to the future of America!!

[cubanlord]

[cubanlord]

[jinju]

I count myself lucky as I have no student loans. Its called free loading off your parents hehehehe

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Canadians retain this sort of fantasy that our universities are so cheaper than in the USA, but we're catching up. A garden-variety BA might be $5000 a year, but some programs such as journalism or pharmacy can be double or triple this. American tuitions can vary between cheapie in-state unis and top or Ivy-league institutions. Add to this Canadian prices for books and supplies and living expenses.

I came, bluntly, because at the time in Alberta I couldn't get a job. I had a masters degree and couldn't get a job teaching, and couldn't get a job stacking soup tins or making donuts because I had a masters and wasn't trusted.

Many Canadians come here because the country is so pitifully poor at after-graduation programs such as internships or tuition relief. I had a giant loan and was being charged prime plus five, and couldn't buy groceries because the bank had seized every dollar I had.

I am not for a moment advocating that people pull a runner on their loans, even if they could in Canada, but this system where people graduate and the next day the bank demands $750 a month forces a lot of people to leave for places like Korea, and quick.

Ken:>

[RachaelRoo]

The interest rate on student loans in Canada is relatively high. Mine's at almost 7%, but I've heard that in the U.K. or America it's closer to 3%.

[cubanlord]

[Mea]

Most people I know graduate without owing too much, but I haven't been that lucky. I'm in my final semester right now (plus one fieldschool to do this summer) and will owe about $30,000 at the end of the summer. There are many reasons why I owe this much: I wasn't eligible for government assistance ... I have pay for everything on my own with very little help from my parents... I live in Toronto where rent is high... I also bought Invisalign braces with this loan... I studied in the UK for a year and travelled tons while I was there... etc.

Even with working full-time at a $25/hour job for 10 weeks each summer, and another job on top of that, plus part-time during the school year for the past 2 years, I still owe this much!

I'm planning on working in the UK for a few years after my year in Korea. So for me, the attraction to Korea is being able to keep some money in my Canadian bank account to simply pay off the minimum I owe each month while I'm in the UK. That way, I won't have to worry about sending it home, and what I make in the UK can stay there.

It's not about paying back the loan ASAP, just making enough in Korea to pay the minimum for awhile.

Since I'm planning on grad school in the UK, I'll probably eventually head back to Korea for a year (if I like it) to save for that.

[itaewonguy]

I have student loans not like im going to pay them back! hahahahaa
yes yes I am one of those guys who free load off the government!
YES I collected the welfare even though I was working and yes I took out students loans and got living expenses money even though I had a job!
I have no plans on returning to my country to live there again anyway!
so screw them! or maybe they will screw me at the airport when I come for a visit! hahahaha Ill worry about that when it happens.. but in my country you dont have to start paying them back until you earn over 30K a year! so I figure will never have a job when Im back there hahahahha

SWEET AZZZ!!!! now of course If I win the lotto Ill pay it back

[Homer]

Sorry I-guy but you know it is because of people like you who default that loans become harder and harder to get for new students....

I mean...come on..you earn good coin now...just pay it back.

[cdninkorea]

[I-am-me]

I for one have decided not to come to korea in order to pay back student loans. Why live in debt in one country to go to another to squeeze out a living? It doesnt make sense to me. On the other hand...I dont plan on returning to my home country either. I have saved a pretty penny here and will continue to do so. I refuse to allow old debt to control my life. It would have been nice to pay those loans off....but I am not rich. And life is too short!!!!