Graduating students in Canada are going to have a tough time this year, to put it mildly.

Not only are Canadian students graduating into a looming global recession that will cost the world economy trillions of dollars, but many have lost their summer internships and their only source of income.

Essentially, approximately 500,000 students are set to graduate from Canadian post-secondary institutions this year with little to no job prospects.

In anticipation of this, Trudeau is delaying student loan payments for six months, interest-free — but some students have pointed out that even September is too soon, since they won't be earning any money this summer.

Even Canadian students in their penultimate year of study are stressed, since their student loan payments start in December.

the osap announcement is great and all but it doesn't help the class of 2020 since our payments don't start until December. how are we gonna make our first payment when our summer internships have been cancelled, companies froze hiring, and we're graduating into a recession?

— May (@attia2098) March 31, 2020

Many students rely on internships to pay back loans, as well as to pay for food, rent and textbooks.

Without work this summer, some Canadian students will struggle to pay for even basic living expenses.

We have over a million university students in Canada many who have had their internships cancelled and will struggle to find summer employment. These kids rely on summer positions to pay for university tuition, books living expenses.
Where is their support?

— Sofa&Mattress; Makers (@HalsteadCalgary) March 26, 2020

While most Canadians that are out of work due to the COVID-19 outbreak will be eligible for either EI or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, students may not be entitled to either.

CERB and EI are both structured to cover current job losses — not a loss of future employment.

Me: Summer internship inbound! let's bag this cash type mindset initiated.
World: Gets hit the the worst recession possible.

— Hamza Kayani (@hmzkiani4) March 29, 2020

And some Canadian students even need internships or co-op programmes to graduate, making it unclear whether they'll be earning a diploma in 2020.

My own worry is that I won't be able to get a co-op placement during this crisis in order to graduate. I don't want to be penalized because of a situation out of my control.

— Meagan Wiper 🌹💜♣️⚽☠️ (@MegW613) March 26, 2020

Other students were relying on summer internships to boost their chances of being accepted to grad school.

Just wanted to let everyone know that every single internship program I applied to this summer has been cancelled so if you need me I’ll be having a meltdown that I gave up a lot of things to focus on getting a position to help get into grad school next year and now I’m fucked🙃

— Simone (@SimoneRacanelli) March 30, 2020

So even though most Canadians are going through a stressful time financially and student loans might seem like a trivial concern, it's worth sparing a thought for the students that have lost their internships or summer job prospects.

For some graduating students, these next four months weren't just supposed to be good work experience; they were crucial to paying off their loans.