Crippling Student Loan Debt – Luke’s Story
Luke’s dream was always to go away to Business School at Wilfrid Laurier University after graduation and from there go on to complete his MBA. His dream also meant leaving the comforts of home and moving across the country from Alberta to Ontario.
After his senior year, Luke was accepted to a university close to his home and they were offering him a full scholarship. He was also accepted to the school of his dreams in Ontario, but they were not offering him any financial assistance.
Luke’s parents made it clear from quite early on that they would not be able to help him with his education costs, so when the time came to choose between going to his dream school or staying close to home, he had a very difficult decision to make.
Luke was determined to fulfil his dream, student loans or not, and ultimately chose to go to school in Ontario.
“I knew I would end up with debt, but I just assumed that every student comes out of school with debt,” Luke explained.
Luke was young, inexperienced and wasn’t equipped with the knowledge needed to understand the full extent of the consequences of this decision.
“I thought I was doing the right thing and thought I was mature enough to make this decision. But in hindsight, I just wasn’t.”
When Luke completed his degree, he was more than $150,000 in debt—the size of Luke’s student loan debt was overwhelming.
“Not only was it not manageable, it was absolutely crippling.”
In order to continue making his payments, Luke made some major lifestyle changes. He rarely went out to eat or to have fun with friends, he put pursuing his MBA on hold, eventually moved to British Columbia for a good job opportunity and was living with his Aunt, only paying a modest amount for rent. But even with these changes, Luke was still drowning in his student loan debt.
After years of struggling to pay down his student loan debt, Luke was tired, frustrated and knew it was time to reach out to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) for help.
He booked a free consultation with Greg Best and after careful consideration of his options and because it had been more than seven years from the end of Luke’s studies, both Luke and Greg determined it was in Luke’s best interest to file for personal bankruptcy. This allowed Luke to eliminate the full remainder of his student loan debt in just nine months.
With the freedom from his student loan debt, Luke has now moved out of his Aunt’s home and into his own apartment, he is using a budget and has money set aside for dining out and having fun with his friends. He’s now working towards saving enough money to be able to complete his MBA, this time, without borrowing money!
Get a fresh financial start
Book your free consultation with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee now.
"*" indicates required fields
