{"id":1213,"date":"2026-04-05T12:15:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2026-04-11T09:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:41:10","slug":"3-ways-the-afe-is-making-you-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/2026\/04\/05\/3-ways-the-afe-is-making-you-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways the AFE Is Making You Poor"},"content":{"rendered":"
By <\/span>Cal Guti\u00e9rrez<\/a>, student pursuing a bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics and computer science with a minor in Hispanic studies at the University of Montreal.<\/span><\/div>\n\n
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Insufficient protected income<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Are you working hard over the summer so you can afford to focus on your studies during the semester? That seems like the best strategy, especially if your school doesn\u2019t offer classes during the summer. But you need to be careful not to earn too much and exceed the protected income limit, or else your loans and grants will be affected. Currently, the maximum protected income is about $1,764 per month when you\u2019re not in school (about 4 months for full-time studies). With the minimum wage at $16.50\/hour and a 40-hour workweek, that comes to $2,640, which exceeds the limit very quickly. If you find a summer job with a government-subsidized wage or an industry internship, you\u2019ll reach the maximum even faster.
The cost of living doesn’t go down just because it’s summer; you still have to pay rent and buy food. You often have to pay more for transportation because you live near the university but your workplace is farther away. Sometimes you have to move for work while continuing to pay for your apartment, which means you\u2019re paying two rents. If you want to contribute to your TFSA, buy a new car, or save for a job search after graduation, you may have to find under-the-table jobs so your reported income doesn\u2019t exceed the protected income limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 
Underestimated cost of living<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For full-time students, the government estimates that approximately $11,000 to $13,000 per year is needed for housing, food, transportation, clothing, and recreation. The exact amount depends on the region and family situation, but this averages out to $1,000 per month. In reality, the government underestimates students\u2019 monthly expenses by between $141 and $857.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Quebec Observatory on Inequality reports that students spend an average of between $646 and $717 per month on housing. Adding just food expenses\u2014averaging $430 to $460\u2014already brings the total over $1,000 per month, without even factoring in transportation, healthcare, clothing, entertainment, etc. In total, all these costs amount to over $2,000. It is no exaggeration to say that those who decide on the amounts allocated to cover living expenses are out of touch with the reality of today\u2019s students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debt<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Being a student means living in financial uncertainty\u2014that\u2019s been a well-established fact for a long time. But at least it\u2019s only temporary\u2026 Or is that really the case? Graduating often means having to start repaying student loans. In other words, facing the reality of debt! For some, if they manage to graduate on time, 15% of this debt may be forgiven, but that\u2019s not the case for everyone. There are many reasons why studies might be delayed: changing programs along the way, family emergencies, or health issues forcing students to take a semester off, study part-time, or complete non-credit internships. The AFE\u2019s requirements don\u2019t take into account the fact that life is full of unexpected events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we\u2019ve seen, government loans and grants aren\u2019t enough, which leads many people to turn to private loans from banks. It\u2019s a trade-off: as a student, you get better terms, but you end up with a larger loan to repay and higher interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no doubt that we\u2019re in a recession. Not only has the economy not yet fully recovered from the 2020 pandemic, but the AI bubble has caused many sectors to collapse, from film production to IT. (Do you remember when everyone was told to go into IT because it was the job of the future and a job was guaranteed as soon as you graduated?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have six months after graduation to start repaying your student loans. If you can\u2019t find a job by then and are unable to make payments, not only will your debt grow, but your credit score will also be affected. I have several friends who, after earning their bachelor\u2019s degrees, had to work in supermarkets or take office jobs completely unrelated to their studies to repay student loans taken out for a degree they weren\u2019t even using. It has also been shown by enrollment figures at Quebec universities after 2008 that, during a recession, people tend to go back to school to change fields or specialize further, which leads them to go even deeper into debt!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Insufficient protected income Are you working hard over the summer so you can afford to focus on your studies during the semester? That seems like the best strategy, especially if your school doesn\u2019t offer classes during the summer. But you need to be careful not to earn too much and exceed the protected income limit, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-1213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-84","tag-cal-gutierrez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1246,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/1246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}