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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/3/2008
Posts: 27
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I think the entire point of this forum is to help other people, so if you are going to type "I don't want to read your sob story" than you are not being helpful and you are just getting in the way. People post here if they are having trouble with OSAP or financing and they expect to have friendly helpful responses or at least someone to console with, it is not up to anyone on here to say whether someone deserves something or not.
Btw thanks for hijacking my thread... studentawards.com needs moderators.
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/24/2008
Posts: 81
Location: ON
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TaintedKane:
Good luck to you man. Sounds like you're due for a break.
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/24/2008
Posts: 81
Location: ON
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FogJUice wrote:Btw thanks for hijacking my thread... studentawards.com needs moderators. It's an internet forum. Threads get hijacked. Chill.
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/16/2008
Posts: 257
Location: Hamilton
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TaintedKane wrote:To Macgirl: Thats very interesting that your parents making 50k/year means that you can't get OSAP. Because it isn't that much. and how are you friends getting all this money? Are their parents poorer than yours or what?
Yeah I didn't think $50 000 per year was a lot to be honest. Not when I also have a sister that lives at home! All I know is that every year I've applied and been denied funding. I've gone through the appeal process, I've verified my application is entirely correct, and I still can't get any help. And being denied for my first year of university put me in a horrible loop...I was forced to work full time all through my first year of university to help pay for my expenses since I was denied OSAP, then with that income on top of my parents income I was turned down in year two, and forced to work full time again, etc. It's a vicious cycle! This year I am thankfully getting some help as my income from last year no longer hurts me now that I've been living on my own for this long. My friends get by the way they do for different circumstances. The one lives with her mother, and only claims her mothers income even though her father pays for everything for her. OSAP hasnt' caught her yet, so every year she gets maximum funding, and every year her dad pays for everything...last year he even bought her a new car. She goes on at least two vacations a year and blows through all her OSAP money on those. The other has grandparents that cover all her basic costs (tuition, books, and some cash) and her parents cover her rent. They don't make a LOT but they make enough to pay for her rent, and with the grandparents covering everything else she gets almost full funding (she gets like $9000-$10 000 each year) which is just blown on stuff...like a big screen tv and Europe last summer. I know that it doesn't always work out like that, but it can be frustrating when I was turned down for three years in a row and then watch my friends get so much money handed to them for things like vacations. I have other friends that have been denied funding when they need it, so I know I'm not alone or anything, but the system is definitely a bit flawed 
4th Year Mac Science Student. Mac Psych Society Executive Member 2008/2009 Mac Community Standards Assistant 2008/2009 Vote for me: http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/candidates/shilodavis.html
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/3/2008
Posts: 27
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if anyone read my other posts, I have more news from osap and yorku, the two most pathetic organizations in the world.
So last week I called YorkU financial aid office to make sure everything was good, to see if they needed any documentation from me or anything, just to make sure everything was cleared up for good. The lady said "we have everything we need and we will have your papers shortly so you can get your loan". So everything was great, I went out and spent half a grand on text books thinking that I'd be getting my loan soon.
Today, I called to see why my OSAP papers weren't in, the lady picked up and said "Are you in your 2nd year of university?", my response "no, i'm in my first year". She then said "Ok we're waiting for you to send us documentation about academic goals, where you are going, what you want to do at university. We mailed the letter out August 22nd". I told her I never received a letter and explained to her that someone else there said last week that I didn't need to submit anything else because they had all of the required documentation, I then asked how long it would take for me to receive OSAP after I submitted this letter. Her response "Our processing time now is about 8 weeks".
So I now have to wait 8 weeks to even see if I will get OSAP, WTF. I have no money to pay for food, books, living, or anything! My parents aren't paying for anything, and I don't know what to do!! YorkU has screwed up time after time for me, OSAP has screwed me over time after time. This is the 21st century, why the hell is it so hard to get a god d@mn education still, these institutions have been around for hundreds of years, you'd think by now they would be accessible to anyone.
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Rank: Valedictorian
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/7/2008
Posts: 626
Location: Newmarket
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You just scared me. I went to the loan zone and I'm first year. They didn't say anything like that academic letter. I have to get my osap soon or else I'm lose around 20% in two of my classes because I need that money for my books. But the lady at the Loan Zone said that I am to get my grant in the mail and bring it to a Canada Post outlet.
YORK; Honors Arts - History Major ; Joint Seneca Journalism-Broadcast
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Rank: Valedictorian
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/7/2008
Posts: 626
Location: Newmarket
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Macgirl wrote:$9000-$10 000 each year) which is just blown on stuff...like a big screen tv and Europe last summer. See that type of thing just pisses me off so much. Makes me wanna kill someone muhahahah lol 
YORK; Honors Arts - History Major ; Joint Seneca Journalism-Broadcast
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Rank: Student Body President
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/5/2008
Posts: 1,758
Location: Edmonton, AB
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TaintedKane wrote:Macgirl wrote:$9000-$10 000 each year) which is just blown on stuff...like a big screen tv and Europe last summer. See that type of thing just pisses me off so much. Makes me wanna kill someone muhahahah lol It's not like it's free money though. They still have to pay it back, so it's kind of dumb for them to just blow it like that.
University of Alberta - Mechanical Engineering '11
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Rank: Valedictorian
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/7/2008
Posts: 626
Location: Newmarket
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karla wrote:TaintedKane wrote:Macgirl wrote:$9000-$10 000 each year) which is just blown on stuff...like a big screen tv and Europe last summer. See that type of thing just pisses me off so much. Makes me wanna kill someone muhahahah lol It's not like it's free money though. They still have to pay it back, so it's kind of dumb for them to just blow it like that. ya but their parents will probably just pay the loan.
YORK; Honors Arts - History Major ; Joint Seneca Journalism-Broadcast
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/3/2008
Posts: 27
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karla wrote:
It's not like it's free money though. They still have to pay it back, so it's kind of dumb for them to just blow it like that.
Yea that's what bothers me so much, it's not free money, it has to be paid back so why does OSAP make it so hard for students to get that money considering they have to pay it back anyhow. They treat it like they're giving away free money. OSAP needs a complete overhaul, it's a very broken system. It's full of bureaucratic crap.
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Rank: Student Council
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/13/2008
Posts: 317
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FogJUice, those York had not been around for hundreds of years and neither has any university in Canada.
OSAP does not need an overhaul. it is not total free money but you don't have to pay interest on that money while in school so there is some free money. Plus anything over 7K is free.
I find your post very strange. No other first year is having that problem.
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/3/2008
Posts: 27
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Future Eng wrote:FogJUice, those York had not been around for hundreds of years and neither has any university in Canada.
OSAP does not need an overhaul. it is not total free money but you don't have to pay interest on that money while in school so there is some free money. Plus anything over 7K is free.
I find your post very strange. No other first year is having that problem. Actually other first, second, third, and even forth year students are having and have had problems with OSAP. Just because you are not aware of them does not mean it isn't happening. I didn't say york has been around for hundreds of years, I meant that universities in general have been around for hundreds of years. And yes, OSAP does need an overhaul. I doubt you have any knowledge of the problems caused in peoples lives by OSAP because if you did you would say otherwise, if OSAP really works than why is there so many people on here alone complaining about how OSAP didn't do something they should have or have screwed up..
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Rank: Student Body President
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/5/2008
Posts: 1,814
Location: Wilfrid Laurier University
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FogJUice wrote:Future Eng wrote:I find your post very strange. No other first year is having that problem. Actually other first, second, third, and even forth year students are having and have had problems with OSAP. Just because you are not aware of them does not mean it isn't happening. I didn't say york has been around for hundreds of years, I meant that universities in general have been around for hundreds of years. And yes, OSAP does need an overhaul. I doubt you have any knowledge of the problems caused in peoples lives by OSAP because if you did you would say otherwise, if OSAP really works than why is there so many people on here alone complaining about how OSAP didn't do something they should have or have screwed up.. Perhaps the person filling in the application made an error? No program as big and complicated as OSAP is going to be perfect.
-Stringer
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/19/2008
Posts: 53
Location: Toronto
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lol i send them(osap) couple of letter saying that i will be living at family friends basement because my school utsc is very far and takes more than hour to get there and provided them approved letters from ttc and the family friend's letter to confirm. Now I am getting 12,000 from osap with a income of 11,000 (gross)my own income and I am living at home since I figured out at it only takes 50 mins if I take different buses and avioid subway. It did not take me long the write the letters and mail them and argue my point. Now I need to think what will I do with that money.
So the point I am trying prove is that osap is not that bad.....
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Rank: Valedictorian
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/7/2008
Posts: 626
Location: Newmarket
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WHOOO got my OSAP grant in the mail then went to the Canada Post Outlet. Everything is on cue.
YORK; Honors Arts - History Major ; Joint Seneca Journalism-Broadcast
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/19/2008
Posts: 53
Location: Toronto
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What should do after I get the osap direct deposit in bank like inform anyone, anything I need to worry about before appyling it again next year.
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/6/2008
Posts: 971
Location: Ottawa, ON.
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umarpk wrote:What should do after I get the osap direct deposit in bank like inform anyone, anything I need to worry about before appyling it again next year. Nope, once you have your first instalment you're good until you have to pick up your next instalment (usually January).
Carleton University Class of 2012, Honours Bachelor of Arts
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Rank: Student Council
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/13/2008
Posts: 317
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umarpk wrote:lol i send them(osap) couple of letter saying that i will be living at family friends basement because my school utsc is very far and takes more than hour to get there and provided them approved letters from ttc and the family friend's letter to confirm. Now I am getting 12,000 from osap with a income of 11,000 (gross)my own income and I am living at home since I figured out at it only takes 50 mins if I take different buses and avioid subway. It did not take me long the write the letters and mail them and argue my point. Now I need to think what will I do with that money.
So the point I am trying prove is that osap is not that bad..... This does not make sense. If it only takes you 50 minutes to get there by bus how did you get by OSAP's 40 kms rule? Put the money in the bank since you will need to pay 7K of it back.
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Rank: Student Body President
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 1,482
Location: Ottawa
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FogJuice wrote:OSAP needs a complete overhaul, it's a very broken system. It's full of bureaucratic crap. The Liberals (A richer Canada, pg 18-20) have a proposal out to allow anyone to get $5000 in loan funding, as well as lowering interest rates and changing the way tax credits for students work so you get money throughout the year (with the GST cheques) and not all at the end of the year. Greens talk about lower interest, loan forgiveness, etc. without saying anything about making loans easier to get. The Conservatives don't have their whole platform up yet, and the policies they've implemented since they got elected have been, in my opinion, the sort of policies that sound good before you think about them too much. Making scholarship income tax free helps a small number of people a lot and doesn't help most students (who either don't have scholarships worth more than $3000, or do have scholarships worth more than that but the amount over $3000 combined with other income isn't enough to go over the personal allowance). The textbook grant represents a fairly small amount of money, that again, doesn't help most students immediately since they aren't making enough to cash in on the existing tuition and education amounts which it effectively adds to anyways (which the Liberals apparently want to address). They did lower the basic personal allowance which is helpful, but I'm not sure if they increased it more or less than inflation would indicate. And the NDP is fairly vague, some of the same stuff about lowering interest rates.
Remember that it often takes just as long to do a search or two on Google to try and find the answer to your question as it takes to type it in a post here, let alone the time waiting for a reply. If your question is "What mark does it take to get into University X", or "What are the requirements to get into University X", it's on their website and/or electronicinfo.ca (for Ontario schools). Particularly for Ontario schools, those ranges are a pretty good picture of what kind of mark will get you into the program, and if you're more than a couple percent higher it's practically guaranteed unless it requires a supplementary form.
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Rank: Student Body President
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/5/2008
Posts: 1,758
Location: Edmonton, AB
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Future Eng wrote:umarpk wrote:lol i send them(osap) couple of letter saying that i will be living at family friends basement because my school utsc is very far and takes more than hour to get there and provided them approved letters from ttc and the family friend's letter to confirm. Now I am getting 12,000 from osap with a income of 11,000 (gross)my own income and I am living at home since I figured out at it only takes 50 mins if I take different buses and avioid subway. It did not take me long the write the letters and mail them and argue my point. Now I need to think what will I do with that money.
So the point I am trying prove is that osap is not that bad..... This does not make sense. If it only takes you 50 minutes to get there by bus how did you get by OSAP's 40 kms rule? Put the money in the bank since you will need to pay 7K of it back. I'm pretty sure he/she lied about where they were living and got more money as a result. Good luck sneaking that past.
University of Alberta - Mechanical Engineering '11
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