Rich Student, Poor Student - Post #1

So you say you’re a poor, deprived, university student that doesn’t have two cents to rub together, well I don’t buy it. The truth of the matter is that University is expensive and there are a lot of people that can’t afford post-secondary education, but if you are a Dal student then you are NOT one of those people. There are also a lot of students that work one or even two jobs while going to school and follow all of the advice that I have to give but are still strapped for cash, and those people I applaud. The reality though is that the majority of students are not handling their money properly and will end up graduating in a huge amount of debt, or leaching off their parents to get through the degree. This is not necessary. I’m not saying you shouldn’t leach off your parents, but if you do you should end your degree with $50,000 in your bank.

What do I know about how to handle money? I have been at Dal for 6 years and when I graduate this year I will have a very small amount of student loans, with money in investments that match it, and I will be walking into a well paying full-time job. I am not from a wealthy family and I have paid my entire tuition myself by working while in school and during the summers. I have received some government loans but no scholarships or bursaries, and in the later years was denied government loans because my mom made too much money, even though I didn’t get any of it (this happens to a lot of students from middle class families). I should point out to be fair that I did not have to pay rent while in University but at times I did own vehicles that cost me over $500/month to own and operate (almost enough to live by Dal). This is something that anyone of you can accomplish, and probably do a better job of, by following some advice. There are 7 steps that I have thought of in order to keep you financially stable and due to the length I will post them one or two at a time (every half week or so), they are as follows:

Step 1: Set a Goal
Step 2: Get a Job
Step 3: Milk the System
Step 4: Be Thrifty
Step 5: Be Smart
Step 6: Invest Everything, Especially Your Student Loan
Step 7: If Need Be, RRSP!

Step 1: Set a Goal

The best way to do anything is to set a realistic goal. This should always be your first step, regardless of what you are doing. When you are setting a goal there are two things you need to be careful not to do; do not underestimate yourself, and don’t set a goal so high you will get frustrated and give up. You need to make sure that your goal is measurable and achievable. Another key to this step is to set it early. I set my goal too late and might miss it by a couple thousand dollars. My goal was to graduate debt free (this was achievable for me because I do not pay rent), your goal may be to graduate with a certain amount of debt or investment. If you don’t pay your tuition then your goal might be to graduate with enough money to put a down payment on a house, if you pay tuition and rent it might be to graduate $20,000 in debt, either way a goal is important. I know that there are some of you out there that are thinking there is no way that you could ever get enough money to even think about having a financial goal, your wrong and we’ll see why in later posts. In closing I would like to say that there are two things that can go along way towards helping you financially; keep visiting this blog and reading the other tips, and read “The Wealthy Barber” by David Chilton, it will be the most valuable book you have ever read. Step 2 will follow in the days to come.

A thing of conscience? Or, nothing at all.

It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I speak on behalf of Dalhousie students when I say that we, together, support the Dawgfather's continued occupancy in front of our Student Union Building. And why wouldn't we? The Dawgfather is an institution on campus, catering to both the plight of Dalhousie students' stretched budgets and desperate need for mutual social ties that constitute University spirit and identity.

That's the Dalhousie Student Union's official stand, and that's the fact of the matter. So, if you're on the Dawgfather's team, you're with us right? Evidently, not in all cases.

There is a movement (of the Facebook variety) comprised of 500+ (or 4% of) Dalhousie students which subscribe to the belief that "the Halifax city council and the DSU is trying to get tha Dawgfather off campus!" In spite of repeated attempts to question the movement's blatant misrepresentation and prejudicial slant, I've seen each of my posts removed. Hmm...

Perhaps it's the inherent jadedness of my political science and journalism backgrounds shimmering through but, in my opinion, parodies of reality within popular media contribute to much of the world's confusion - and our student community isn't exempt from any universal rules.

So, here, something real (edit: possibilities, based on my own ideas)

- The Halifax Regional Municipality owns the sidewalk where the Dawgfather
conducts business in front of the S.U.B. This is not University or Dalhousie
Student Union property (interesting fact: The Dawgfather makes an appearance
in DAL's recruitment video, which we believe to be an acknowledgement of his
contributions to campus).

- We are willing to meet with students, or the Dawgfather (who has been
approached), about how we can lend our time to help end his difficulties.

- We are willing to entertain the possibility of a Dawgfather Appreciation
Day on campus, if there is sufficient interest.

- The DSU Executive, as your student representatives, are fully committed to
any initiative students feel is vital. Let us know, and get involved. Can't
wait to see you.

Since keeping the Dawgfather within close quarters is the priority of Dalhousie students, it is - by default - our priority. And I would welcome any transparent discussion on the comment section of this blog for all to see (no posts will be removed).

As for you Facebook protestors, I can't deduce your agenda, but I would suggest investing your time in more progressive forms of advocacy (the world's problems are not going to be solved on Facebook, quote me).

The faults of the Dalhousie community can be best solved in a practical manner - it's fundamental and basic, just get involved.

Update: Ezra, Mike and I talk about the Dawgfather on DSU Now, our weekly radio talk show, Mondays 3:30PM-5PM CLICK HERE

Maclean's

Ezra may be too modest to write about it, but I think it's worth noting that he appears, along with Canadian Alliance of Student Associations' National Director Phil Oullette, in this month's issue of Maclean's magazine.


They note that CASA is doing a better job than the press of getting answers from the federal government. During that week, we met with more than 170 MPs, Senators, civil servants and stakeholders to lobby on student issues. The DSU has played an important role in CASA since it was founded 10 years ago and Ezra currently serves as chair of the board of directors.

The Price of Knowledge

Yes, we have jumped onto the Blog band wagon. I hope that you will enjoy our posts. All five of the executive will be posting on this blog at some point. If you have any comments we would love to hear them.

This weekend I read the 5^th chapter of the Price of Knowledge 2006, a document released by the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation (CMSF). The CMSF was set up in 1999 by the Chrétien government to provide grants to Canadian students. The foundation provides $350 million dollars to students each year, of which 95% is provided on a needs base basis with the other 5% going to merit based awards. In addition the Foundation also conducts research and the Price of Knowledge 2006 is its most recent research publication. Currently, only the final chapter is available here with the full document coming out sometime in the next month.

The CMSF does a lot of great work, although that is a point of contention within the Canadian student movement right now. The DSU, however, supports the function that the CMSF fulfills and would like to see that extended past its current 2009 expire date. But that is for a later post perhaps. Here I would like to focus on the observations around student debt provided in chapter five of the Price of Knowledge 2006.

Student debt has become one our biggest problems. Through the 1990’s student debt more then doubled from $11,636 in 1990 to $23,329 in 2000. In the past six years however, debt has only increased by three percent. In 2006, 59 percent of undergraduate students graduated from a university with an average of $24,047 in debt. Atlantic Canada had more student debt ($29,747) than any other region. One would think that the government has finally gotten the message, as student groups have been lobbying on this for at least the past ten years and to a certain degree they have. The creation of the CMSF is an example of that. Any form of needs-based bursary directly combats increasing student debt. Things are about the change. Both provincial and federal governments have made recent policy changes that are guaranteed to increase student debt. The federal government has lowered the expected parental contribution, which will result in students getting bigger loans. In New Brunswick, the provincial government has completely abolished the parental contribution. In Nova Scotia, the government has also decreased the parental contribution. In addition, more college students are graduating with higher debt levels, and the current interest relief programs are not being used as most students don’t know about them. To top it all off, no government has done any thinking about what amount of debt students can actually handle.

So, what are we doing about this grim picture? At both the provincial and federal level we want to see more grants programs; up front, needs-based grants. We want to see a complete review of the student financial assistance program, which currently spends most of its money on tax credits, back-end assistance that most students cannot use for years. We want to see increased federal funding to the provinces in the form of a dedicated transfer so that government funding to universities will increase, resulting in decreased tuition. Let me correct myself, we don’t want these changes, we need these changes. Canada currently lags behind most OECD countries in competitiveness and innovation. If we want to remain competitive in a global economy, we need to increase the number of Canadians going to post secondary education institutions. Saddling them with ever increasing student debt is not going to do that!