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One-in-ten has student loan
Average balance is $19,000
TORONTO September 2nd, 2015 - In a random
sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1384 Canadian adults,
just more than one tenth had a student loan (12%), and this comprises at least
a third of the youngest (under 35 - 34%). Student loans are rare after this
age. Student loans are more common in the prairies and Atlantic Canada than
they are in Ontario.
Average balance is $19,000
The unpaid balance of student loans is, on average, about
$19,000, but this figure is higher among those in older age groups. Average
loan amounts are lowest in the prairies and highest in Ontario. Liberal voters
have the highest student loans, on average compared to Conservatives or New
Democrats.
More than half experience
financial hardship because of student loan
More than half of those with student loans say they impose a
hardship on them (54%) and 3-in-10 describe this as a “a great deal of
hardship” (31%).
“It is said that the one political issue that can get the
youngest voters engaged is student debt, and here we see that, although debt is
common to about a third of students, it’s effects are felt quite severely
indeed," said Forum
Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is
the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com
or at (416) 960-9603.
