It is no surprise that many people have relied or been forced to take out students loans on the hopes their new career choice will someday better their quality of life, but what if it does more damage than good?

 Depending on the career and post-secondary education you have chosen some may spend more than others back on student loans and interest alone. 

Personally, I went to school for two years with no savings or help from anyone and racked up a total of 34,000 in loans. This number includes tuition, books, rent, utilities, groceries and pretty much everything during those two years. 

Now it is time for me to pay them back, luckily I qualify for the repayment assistance program bringing my monthly repayment down from $347 per month to $90 per month making it much more manageable. The last time I checked my federal loan had an interest rate of 6.95% and my provincial had an interest rate of 3.75%.

I often wonder if it would have been better for me to wait to get an education for a few more years so I could save up enough money not to have to take out loans. 

Did you take out loans to pay for school? Do you regret taking out the loans? Have you paid them back? 

Let me know on our Facebook post. 

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com