OCTOBER 8, 2003

; ; Photo by Dana Schwehr
UNBC students enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather this fall by going for bike rides along University way.

Student Loans
and Recession?

_- Ever increasing student debt a problem

By Trevor Robertson

Clearly, the Canadian Government has not heard or
understood what might soon be one of the biggest
economic problems facing our country. The problem
at hand is the ever-increasing student debt. You're
saying to yourself, ‘I’ve heard about this before and it
really isn’t that big of a problem.’ Ah, but it is time to
look at this issue a little further, especially since things
have changed a lot recently.

First the stats. As noted in the CBC In Depth, a
report on student loans, in 2001 the average debt for
students with loans was $25,000, whereas it was less
than $10,000 only ten years ago. Then a quick glance
at the Loan Repayment Calculator (found at
www.canlearn.ca) reveals the scary truth that stu-
dents are not told about when they sign up for these
loans. The average student-will be paying around
$325 a month or more for the next 10 years in order to
pay off their loan. However, as tuition continues to
increase across most of Canada, clearly students com-
ing out of school in the coming years will have signif-

icantly higher debt loads. At a conservative average.

debt estimate of $30,000, repayments increase to $400
a month. Maybe the most surprising fact is that dur-
ing this period a minimum of $12,000 in interest will
be paid to the government. This level of interest is
close to what most people pay for tuition during their
entire education.

Is it fair? No. Why do student who can less afford to
pay for their education, in essence pay nearly double
the tuition? How can people with entry-level wages
afford to make these kinds of repayments?

What does this all mean then? Clearly there are
going to be many thousands of young Canadians out
there with excessive debt. And these young people are
the ones who are supposed to bring new money into
our economy. The truth, however, is that most of these
people are not going to be buying cars or houses at all.
In fact, they will, for the most part, not be making any
major purchases for up to ten years. And this will not
be healthy for our economy.

The final question then is ‘what can we do?’ Well, as

I’ve decided, if the Canadian Government won't lis-

ten, it is time to go to those with arguably more power
than government—business. It is time for students to
let all their favourite businesses know that due to
excessive loan payments they will not be purchasing
their product(s) because they simply cannot afford it.
And as the number of students under extreme debt
stress increases each year, this scenario will only fur-
ther harm our economy.

Whether you are a student or not, this will affect
you. It is time to write to businesses and tell them of
your concerns, and do not quit until something is
done to stop the problem.

Orinion 8

RIAA Sucks
Goat Balls

By Dana Schwehr

By now everyone with a com~’

puter. knows about the
Recording Industry Association
of America’s plan to sue KaZaA
users who distribute copyrighted
files. The RIAA announced in
June of this year that they
planned to monitor peer-to-peer
networks, such as KaZaA in
order to gather evidence on peo-
ple who distribute large numbers
of copyrighted files over the
internet. The RIAA then planned
to subpoena the individual who
pays for the internet connection,
in order to sue these people for
copyright infringement. This has
led to such blunders as the sub-
poenaing of a 71-year-old man
who did not even know what file
sharing was until he received his
subpoena.

Another interesting aspect of
this case is the RIAA’s offer of
amnesty to any file sharer who
voluntarily identifies his or her-
self. Somehow, this sounds exact-
ly like the scenario of the Salem
witch trials back in 1692. If some-
one accused of witchcraft admit-
ted to being a witch, then he or
she could be saved by the church.
If the accused didn’t confess,
then he was screwed.

Now, it might just be me, but I -

cannot see any real reason why
this invasion of privacy on the
part of the RIAA should be toler-
ated. The recording industry says
that it loses millions of dollars
every year to file sharing applica-
tions, but 1 somehow cannot help
but wonder if a good portion of
that money is not lost to ridicu-
lous lawsuits aimed at eradicat-
ing distribution of files over the
internet. Of course piracy is ille-
gal, and it should not be con-
doned. However, invasion of pri-
vacy by large corporate networks
is something that the public
should not have to fear. The
actions taken by the RIAA on the
issue of file sharing can be
likened to the actions taken by
the US government in the 1950's

in order to root out Communists.
This “making an example”
method of law enforcement does
not convince the guilty parties
that they should cease their ille-
gal actions. Instead, the whole
farce makes many people feel
that the RIAA is a large group of
money-hungry corporate suits
who care about nothing more
than making a buck. These peo-
ple feel sorry for the families of
twelve-year-old children who
have been targeted by these law-
suits. These lawsuits will be
more of a hassle than they are
worth, as there are very few
teenagers who have access to the
millions of dollars that the record
industry believes it loses to file
sharing every year.

Instead of embracing a tech-
nology with infinite possibilities
for promotion and education,
record companies ate deter-
mined to stay in the Stone Age of
hard copy music distribution.
There are many people who
refuse to buy a CD because of
one song, and this is sound logic.
How many of you have bought a
CD, only to realize that the band
was a one-hit wonder? How
many people have discovered an
incredible band on the internet,
and bought CDs that they would
not have bought under other cir-
cumstances? But instead of see-
ing these possibilities, the record
industry alienates its customer-
base by displaying an extreme
case of the “gimme gimmes”. Oh
well. I suspect that the next big
file sharing application will
become popular enough to be of
use if the near future, and I am
sure that there will always be
someone who is one step ahead
of the record industry when it
comes to protecting the privacy
of people who use the Internet.
And who knows, maybe, just
maybe, the artists will simply
skip the hassle of dealing with
big record companies, and sell
their product directly to the fans.

Holy CRAP! You like to submit! You love
to submit! You know you want it. Your life
is meaningless without submissions!

SUBMIT! TO OVER THE EDGE!
THAT’S SUBMIT! WITH AN S$!

me