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Rank: Frosh
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Joined: 7/3/2008
Posts: 5
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I am going to be starting at York University in September, I applied for OSAP because without it I will not be able to afford school. Previous to York, I spent 2 years at Georgian College and completed a 2 year computer programmer diploma. I have been living at home in Barrie while I went to Georgian and will be living at home until school starts in September at York U. Before york, I applied for OSAP for my college study period in 2006-07 but not in 2007-08 because I had enough money then.
A few weeks ago I received a letter stating that my OSAP application didn't match up because they couldn't understand how I was paying for my living expenses such as mortgage/rent, utilities, food, and clothes. This puzzled me because on my OSAP application I made sure that I explained I was living at home and that my parents would be paying for all of that, there was even a textbox that was titled something like "Please explain in a few paragraphs how you will be paying for living expenses prior to September 2008". The letter asked for proof of how I was paying for living expenses in 2008 and so I typed up a letter explaining everything, signed it, and typed up another letter and had my parents sign it to signify they are paying for all of my living expenses up until I go to York University. So that was sent and I'm waiting to hear back.
Now, today I received a letter in the mail stating that my 2007 income reported from the Canadian Revenue Agency differed from my OSAP application and that I will be denied any OSAP for another 5 years!!! I was (and still am) extremely frustrated and upset after first reading this because I know I have always reported things accurately on my OSAP and I keep a very good track record of income. I went to the OSAP website (which was down for for a few hours, went up, and is now back down again) to check my records and also pulled out all of my income tax returns from 2006 up until now, only to find nothing wrong! Everything I have reported is accurate so I don't understand why they are saying that there is a huge difference. I never applied for OSAP in 2007-2008 and so there is no record of anything on the OSAP website and yet they are saying that I made $12k in 2007 and that I reported it inaccurately.
Has anyone else had this problem?
I am going to visit my Financial Aid office but I will also be visiting my local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) to express my frustration, explain what has happened, and possibly get a letter or something. I voted for her to be there so now it's time to see if she deserved my vote.
*Edit* Does anyone know of any OSAP alternatives that are interest free until I'm done school?
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Rank: Student Council
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Joined: 4/4/2008
Posts: 433
Location: Whitby
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I don't think there are any other interest-free loans, your best bet is either a scholarship or bursary, sorry...
UWO 2012 - Biological & Medical Science  UWO > Every other school
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Rank: Frosh
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Joined: 7/3/2008
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I received a few bursaries but grr osap really pisses me off, it is soo soo frustrating when they make mistakes because I get worried that I will not be able to get to University. This probably sounds sad to a lot of people but it's been one of my childhood dreams to actually get to uni., no one else in my family has bothered to try so it's sort of a big personal achievement to outgrow them and break barriers they haven't.
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Rank: Student Body President
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Joined: 3/4/2008
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FogJUice that doesn't sound sad at all. that's incredibly admirable. you do know that there are tons of scholarships that take into consideration (or specifically target) students who are the first in their family to go to university right? i hope things turn out much better for you, it's a terrific goal that you have
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Rank: Student Council
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Joined: 4/4/2008
Posts: 433
Location: Whitby
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FogJUice wrote:I received a few bursaries but grr osap really pisses me off, it is soo soo frustrating when they make mistakes because I get worried that I will not be able to get to University. This probably sounds sad to a lot of people but it's been one of my childhood dreams to actually get to uni., no one else in my family has bothered to try so it's sort of a big personal achievement to outgrow them and break barriers they haven't. It's nice to see some other first-gen people attending university for a change. There aren't too many of them at my school.
UWO 2012 - Biological & Medical Science UWO > Every other school
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Rank: Frosh
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Joined: 7/3/2008
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My mom went to college for a year so that removed any chance I had of getting a 1st gen bursary  . Here's an update of what OSAP now wants from me, a record of all bursaries and income from 2006 and 2007 but they want proof from paystubs... I finished working at Zehrs back in March 2006 but I never saved my paystub thinking 2 years later OSAP would try to screw me over. I contacted Zehrs and they are going to mail me a record of employment and my last pay stub but it will take 2 weeks and it comes from Winnipeg, no matter what I said they wouldn't mail it express (cold heartless people). I am also trying to get in contact with a few other employers I had for co-ops in 2007, this is so painful :'(. My financial aid office said when I file the appeal then this should be fixed because I did state my income correctly but something glitched in their system, grrrr OSAP. Anyone who has their education paid for by their parents are very VERY lucky. It is very stressful with an education at the mercy of incompetent OSAP and if I had enough money to pay for school myself, obviously I would
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/24/2008
Posts: 73
Location: ON
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You should still have copies of your T4 slips right? They work just as well as paystubs.
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/13/2008
Posts: 195
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FogJUice wrote:My mom went to college for a year so that removed any chance I had of getting a 1st gen bursary . Here's an update of what OSAP now wants from me, a record of all bursaries and income from 2006 and 2007 but they want proof from paystubs... I finished working at Zehrs back in March 2006 but I never saved my paystub thinking 2 years later OSAP would try to screw me over. I contacted Zehrs and they are going to mail me a record of employment and my last pay stub but it will take 2 weeks and it comes from Winnipeg, no matter what I said they wouldn't mail it express (cold heartless people). I am also trying to get in contact with a few other employers I had for co-ops in 2007, this is so painful :'(. My financial aid office said when I file the appeal then this should be fixed because I did state my income correctly but something glitched in their system, grrrr OSAP. Anyone who has their education paid for by their parents are very VERY lucky. It is very stressful with an education at the mercy of incompetent OSAP and if I had enough money to pay for school myself, obviously I would Most of us do not have their education paid for by their parents thank you very much. We take out loans and/or get scholarships. Why can't you be like the rest of us and take out a loan? OSAP is not incompetent and you should be grateful for any money you get from them.
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/5/2008
Posts: 749
Location: toronto
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Yes, we all know it's more dignified to be a self-made men/women !
uw/wlu DD '13
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Rank: Frosh
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Joined: 7/3/2008
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bordeaux wrote:You should still have copies of your T4 slips right? They work just as well as paystubs. Hey, yea I have all of my T4's but they are being ridiculous and want to know how much I made between Jan-May 2006, May-Aug 2006, Sept-Dec 2006 and similar for 2007, they also said T4's can't be used and that's most likely because T4's don't give exact dates of income, only a total.
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Rank: Frosh
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Future Eng wrote:
Most of us do not have their education paid for by their parents thank you very much. We take out loans and/or get scholarships. Why can't you be like the rest of us and take out a loan?
OSAP is not incompetent and you should be grateful for any money you get from them.
Future Eng, take it easy there OSAP fanboy and perhaps read the entire post before trolling. Obviously not everyone at OSAP is incompetent and in theory OSAP system should work well but I guess I was unlucky and had someone screw up on reviewing my application. I am also not trying to say it's unfair that other students parents pay for it, it is great that they have family that supports them, if I ever have a kid I hope that I can do the same, but people born into families with parents that can financially assist their kids in school are lucky because taking out loans and going through osap can be painful when it doesn't work as it is supposed to. And if you read my post, you would see I am trying to take out a loan... hence my posting here in the first place.
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/5/2008
Posts: 163
Location: Toronto
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Redrose27 wrote:FogJUice that doesn't sound sad at all. that's incredibly admirable. you do know that there are tons of scholarships that take into consideration (or specifically target) students who are the first in their family to go to university right? i hope things turn out much better for you, it's a terrific goal that you have Really? I've searched and I can't really find anything that I fit into (and I don't remember ever seeing anything in my studentawards search).
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Rank: Student Council
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/4/2008
Posts: 433
Location: Whitby
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Shismo wrote:Redrose27 wrote:FogJUice that doesn't sound sad at all. that's incredibly admirable. you do know that there are tons of scholarships that take into consideration (or specifically target) students who are the first in their family to go to university right? i hope things turn out much better for you, it's a terrific goal that you have Really? I've searched and I can't really find anything that I fit into (and I don't remember ever seeing anything in my studentawards search). Check with your respective university, I found a $2500 bursary at mine by checking the financial aid website.
UWO 2012 - Biological & Medical Science UWO > Every other school
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/23/2008
Posts: 7
Location: Oshawa, Ontario
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It sounds like they just mixed up your papers, you should call them or physically go in. Aren't the HQ's in Guelph? You could make an appointment and go in to talk to someone, and bring your papers.
As for other interest free loans, not that I know of. Sorry! Good luck with this whole ordeal.
Decisons, Decisons...
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 968
Location: Ottawa
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I don't know as much about OSAP, but I have heard a lot of horror stories of the NS and I think NB loans people - losing paperwork, etc.
 
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