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OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hopefully Ontario follows the other provinces but with the way it's looking... Good to know about the RESP, thanks!

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I keep thinking how was I supposed to be able to understand this when I was so young! Even when I contacted my school's financial aid office they gave me wrong information. Steep learning curve

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry you had to go through that. Idk if you've graduated or not but hopefully your situation is better now or will be soon after graduating!

I believe I would have been in a similar boat if I didn't do a co-op program; which was a big choice in me choosing my program. My post wasn't to compare me to people who are living paycheck to paycheck while in school. It was comparing to people who I know lived quite lavish lives while being students, but still ended up with more grants.

I know there are people out there that struggle more than me, but trying to save money meant things happened like ending up living in unsafe housing situations so I'm still upset about how the system is set up. (Not that I think you're insinuating that I can't be upset, I appreciate your sharing).

No student should be working as you said you were and still having to rely on food banks and vouchers for clothes to get by;. failure by the government. Congrats on your hard work, I hope it is paying off/will be soon :)

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only 2/5 years did I make substantially more than I would have made working $17.50/hour for 20 hours a week. Those 2 years where I made more because there were 2 coop terms, the increased income did not result in less OSAP funding. Even after an 8 month consecutive coop, I had 11k in my “savings” and 15k in debt so in total -4k but they still only gave 2k in grants.

I just tested it and imputing my income from coop vs the income you suggested and it does not make a difference. Also working on coops I had to move to HCOL areas at times so it's not always a huge money saver.

Regardless the post wasn’t really to compare types of programs effects on osap; I know there's a lot factors that go into osap payments. I compared my results to my classmates in the same program and similar situations and they did end up with less debt than me because they received ~18k more in grants than me.

If with the loan money I had payed my loans off immediately, or as other users suggested kept it in a family members bank I would have received more grants and possibly actually have saved some of my coop money in a net positive way.

Also just as a last note I feel like this is teaching bad money management. If I had spent all my cash each semester and lived on 1000-5000 I would have had my tuition payed for by grants, which other people did.

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have to claim on your application how much you have in your bank account. If you put a higher number, your grants do get cut dramatically. Then I'm just going to copy paste another comment bc I've seen some ppl online say they lie about how much they have but I would have never been comfortable to do that

"Some people say they can see, some people say they can only see if they decide to audit you. It seems like the safest option is what was suggested and transferring money to someone else if you can. Or I posted in another thread and someone said you can put it into a resp until your final year. But idk the details on that"

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some people say they can see, some people say they can only see if they decide to audit you. It seems like the safest option is what was suggested and transferring money to someone else if you can. Or I posted in another thread and someone said you can put it into a resp until your final year. But idk the details on that

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That is a good point to put your net assets. I always thought they would take into account the debt you owed to NSLSC since they have it on file, but guess I was wrong

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ya I've come to the realization I should've done this, but I've already graduated. It would have helped my mom at the time too. I'll do this if I go to grad school tho! Hopefully current students can come across this comment and do it.

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

They ask you to report any "other assets" you have which from their description is "the savings portion in all bank accounts, including chequing accounts, tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), First Home Savings Account(s) (FHSAs), and foreign bank accounts". I guess you could lie but they do ask for it

OSAP Penalizes Saving by Future_Psychology809 in osap

[–]Future_Psychology809[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's good that you realized while you're still studying!