Today on the MMFBT podcast we feature someone who paid off tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt before he was charged a cent of interest. His name is Daniel Dickin and you can view his full writing portfolio over at danieldickin.ca. He is currently finishing his MA in Public Administration after receiving his BA from Carleton and has written for the Prince Arthur Herald and the Huffington Post among other places. Dan’s story came to my attention when I read a story in the Globe and Mail about how he paid off $32,000 in student loans as he was finishing his master’s thesis.
Join us as we talk about:- Why Dan decided to take on student debt in the first place.
- How you can use RESPs to boost your college savings before you ever leave high school.
- How to juggle part-time jobs while attending post-secondary studies.
- Navigating Ontario’s student loan process, better known as “OSAP”.
- Why taking more OSAP funding than you actually need can be a good thing if you handle it in a disciplined manner. (Hint: a spring break trip to a tourist trap is not considered a “disciplined manner”.)
- Is making pre-payments on your student loan always a good idea?
Admittedly Dan’s approach isn’t for everyone. It entails knowing a little bit about how to best save and invest your money in the short term and it might blur some ethical lines depending on where you stand on the whole notion of using student loans to invest instead of paying for school. I believe that at the very least his POV is unique and worth sharing with readers if only to get a bit of a different view on how to view student loans in general.
As always, any feedback you’d like to provide via our comments section or in the form of iTunes ratings is much appreciated. If you’d like to come on the podcast don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll get a session set up.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
More Beers, More Cheers, That’s It That’s All!