i hope so... im in the same boat :( ive heard that osap will deny you if you have more than 3 items in the credit bureau that together add up to more than 1000 and is 90 days in arrears, but who knows.... i just applied i have poor credit but all my current loans and credit cards are up to date so im hoping i dont get denied

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My gf plans on enrolling for nursing at college in the fall. she's debating what would be better: getting a line of credit from her bank or applying for osap? also... she's been working full-time but that's because she's been supporting the family and paying the majority of expenses through her job. she'll be shifting to part time when she's in school. does that affect her loan situation at all? thank you in advance

Apply for OSAP. If she decides that she doesn't want it after she finds out what they will give her, then she can cancel her application. Student line of credit from the bank: there's generally a limit of 8,000-10,000 per year she has to pay the interest while she is attending school the interest she pays is not tax deductible she has to have a co-signer OSAP the limit is (for a single person with no dependents) 350/week X the number of weeks in her course she doesn't pay anything until 6 months after she graduates the interest she pays is deductible OSAP will do a credit check on her but she does not need a co-signer Her income while in school will affect her funding . She may have grounds for a review if she is supporting members of her family

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I graduated from highschool in 2006...currently applying for osap...but i riuned my credit in 2006 .i live on my own and things arent easy when you have bills piled up for you without any help....ii have been sent to a credit agency from a phone company, two bank visas from 2006 and tax revenue that im owing...im now applying for a student loan and i dont know what i do if i dont get a student loan..since i already got into an aviation program i always wanted.a friend of mine told me its always good to apply as a dependent...so they look into your parents other than mine.thats that work. i really need to get into this program.

Your friend is not correct. When you apply for OSAP, they do a credit check on YOU. They don't ever credit check your parents. If you fail the credit check, you can do an appeal. You need to speak to the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend, get the credit appeal form, fill it out, write a letter describing the extenuating circustances that led to your debt situation and explain how you plan to repay your loan. Provide documentation for everything - so if you lost your job, give proof, if you wer ill, give proof etc.

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I'm currently a grade 12 student in ontario and plan on entering a 2 or 3 year accounting course in college next year. i have on major concern... money. i know scholarships and bursaries are available but i heard that you never actually get the money and the money is given to the school to pay your tuition. do your books get paid too? someone also told me that they can help cover residence fees as well but i'm getting my own apartment so i guess i can't use scholarship money to help with that. i'm considering 2 options for money since there are not many scholarships available where i live and i need a lot of money for living expenses. my first option is applying for osap (gov. loan) but people have given me mixed remarks. some say it is so easy to get and it'll cover whatever you need. but i've heard stories of kids being denied enough since their parents earn a lot even though they don't live with them anymore, and that they won't give you money unless you have a part time job as well. and if you have actually saved too much money to cover your tuition they might not give you enough to cover living expenses. then i need to re apply every year and there is always the chance i don't get the money in the following years for whatever reason. my other option is a student line of credit at my bank. i've head you just need to present your budget plan to them and provide all your income as proof. i don't know if you absolutely need to have a job in order to be approved for one since you don't have to start paying until your out of school. i also think i need a co signer with good credit. one thing that concerns me is the amount. my friends told me the bank gives a max of $10 000 a year for up to 4 years. it seems decent but once you minus tuition, books, rent, and utilities a huge chunk is gone already. then i only have a bit left for groceries and personal expenses. i also wonder if i need to claim my roomate when i apply. my boyfriend will be moving in with me and will hopefully be working so he might be able to cover the rent and stuff for a while. i am worried that if they know i have his income they'll limit my money even more. this scares me because if we were to break up or he lost his job then i would have a major loss of income and be left getting emergency loans to survive.

I suggest that you research and apply for any and all scholarships you are eligible for. Start at www.scholarshipscanada.com. What difference does it make if the scholarship goes to the school? It will pay down your tuition and that will be 1 less bill for you to worry about. In most public community colleges and universities you are responsible for buying your own books. Do NOT buy any until after your first class. You may discover that your instructor does not plan to use the text. Buy used texts, not new if possible. OSAP is easy to get but it is NOT designed to pay for your education - it is designed to ASSIST. There is also the expectation that your parents will be helping you to pay for school. You are considered to be your parents' responsibility until you have been out of high school at least 4 years -- or you have been out of school for 12 months on 2 or more occasions (so for instance you finished high school, hung around for 1 year, went to college, dropped out and its been at least 1 year since then). So even if you are not living at home, the responibility is still there. OSAP will look at your parents' combined incomes and the number of people in the family and then, using tables from Stats Canada, will decide how much 'disposable' income your parents have that could be spent on your education. Also, they expect that you will have a part time job while in school. You can make $103 gross per week without impacting your OSAP funding. You do not have to have a part time job but most students find that they need something to get a little more money. They also assume that you had a job in the summer right before school started and they expect that you saved money from the job which is factored into your funding calculatins. Even if you did not work, they still factor that into your funding. If you have savings, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, GICs, term deposits, expensive car, RRSPs, etc they may be factored into the calculations. Any scholarships you receive will be deducted from your OSAP. You do need to apply every year but unless you do something stupid - like lie about your income, you won't have a problem reapplying. There are weekly maximums for OSAP -- as a single person, your max is 360/week for every week you are in school (so not for the Decewmber break or summer) . So for a 2 semester, 34 week year, that's 12,240. But that is loaned to you for everything - rent, food, transportation, tuiiton, books, etc. You can apply for a student line of credit. You must have a co-signor. While you are in school you must pay the interest on any money you use from your line of credit. Most banks will do $10,000/year -- but remember your academic year is only 8 months, not 12, so you are looking at 1250/month. You are going to have to practice some economies -- you can't rent an expensive apartment, you can't be eating fast food all the time, you probably can't afford a car. You can apply for OSAP and also a line of credit. For OSAP you don't 'claim' a room-mate unless you have been co-habiting for 3 years or have a child together. OSAP expects that most students will be in shared accommodation.

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I currently applied to school and have been accepted. i am starting at college then planning on going to uni and teachers college after. i have heard good and bad about osap as well as line of credits. im just not sure what is the best when i have large expenses coming my way.

First thing to realize is that OSAP is designed to help you go to school, not to pay the entire expense of school. And OSAP is run by the goverment so that means you have to make sure you do everything you are supposed to do when you are asked to do it -- then you don't have any problems with OSAP. But if you miss deadlines or don't send back documents in a timely manner then OSAP becomes a nightmare. Lines of credit have to be repaid (at least the interest payments) almost immediately. with OSAP you can get up to 340 weeks of funding in your lifetime. As long as you are in school, you do not have to start repaying. Loans are interest-free while you are in school and the federal portion is interest free for 6 months after you complete your education. Every year you are eligible for the Ontario Student Opportunity Grant which can reduce your debt to 7,300 per year, no matter how much OSAP you got that year. Once you start repaying, the interest you pay on the loan is a tax deduction. If you are planning college/university/teachers college, do some strategic planning. Pick a college program that has an articulation arrangement with the university you want to attend. That means that the university will take the college credits pretty much at par - so 2 years in college gets you 1.5 - 2 years of university credit. Otherwise you will be doing 2 to 3 years college, 3 to 4 years university then your teachers college...... it will take forever.